Countdown to Spring

I consider myself an amateur gardener. Last year was my first attempt at gardening. I thought it would be a fun project to do with my daughter and niece who was staying with us. After doing a small amount of research I decided to try to grow some zinnias from seed. They take only a few days to germinate, which means they are very hard to mess up. When they took off -with the help of miracle-gro- I was hooked. I felt like a proud parent as they went from a fingernail sized seedling to a 3 foot stem bursting with red and orange blooms. M got me a great book last year for mothers' day -- its The Home Depots' Gardening 1-2-3. Its basically the encyclopedia of gardening, and I have spent many a night scouring over it, dreaming of a beautiful garden. On one hand gardening is basic: dig a hole, put a flower in it, water it and make sure it gets some sun. On the other hand, gardening is like learning a foreign language, and that's not just because all the plants have multiple common names on top of their hard to spell and pronounce botanical names.
Prior to planting last year, my previous experience in the garden involved planting a few flowers in the backyard as a child and then forgetting water them. As a result, I was convinced this must be a more complicated project. I haven't planted since, thinking I wasn't blessed with a green thumb. As an adult, moving into a house with large flower beds already in place, it was a bit intimidating. Our first spring and summer, nothing was done to them, and they weren't too pretty to say the least. I excused myself from that responsibility since I was pregnant, and as we all know, it isn't too easy for girls with bowling balls in front to bend over, let alone spend hours on ones knees in the dirt. But without this excuse last year, I gave it a good, solid effort, and that's really all it takes. I felt like I was in my own "introduction to gardening" class and tried a few different things. I planted bare root strawberries, but they all died except one. It produced a flower and one small strawberry that turned into a treat for a small animal, as I could see from the nibble that was missing. I planted big box store marigolds which wilted. However I did have success with my seedling Zinnias and Dahlias. I also was lucky to enjoy the beauty of some godetias, day lily, cone flowers, tulips and daffodils that the previous owner had planted. After trial and error, failure and success, grasshoppers eating my Gladiola shoots and petunias trailing perfectly, I'm afraid I have definitely been bitten by the garden bug.
This year, I have high hopes and aspirations for this planting season. I am counting the days until April, when the ground will have thawed enough to work some compost into the soil. A few weeks before the last frost date and I can start more lovely Zinnia seeds- what a cheerful plant, smiling at the sun.

I received one of those great nursery catalogs in the mail-- that I keep marking the order form with plants to purchase online at http://www.springhillnursery.com/ I love that it has a complete sun garden I can purchase all together with the garden plan and instructions, so I know it will look as good as the picture, and all the heights and colors will coordinate beautifully. I'm hoping this will give our house a step up in the curb appeal department and, of course, impress the neighbors.
Last spring and summer while spending a lot of time pulling weeds (remember to mulch this year) I realized how much I enjoyed getting my hands dirty digging in the dirt. (ok, I wear gloves, but you know.) While deadheading my petunias and fertilizing, and more weed pulling (curse that morning glory), I have gained an appreciation for what mother nature has to offer. How amazing is it that from small seeds great flowers grow. How amazing that from pulling a few weed roots I'm relieved of stress and beam with satisfaction as I admire my hard work. Gardening is my new outdoor therapy.