Call me Thumbalina

I am not the gardening type, something I've fessed up to multiple times, but this summer since working in Connie's pineapple plantation I decided I would give gardening a small try.  I received a cilantro plant from my girls on Mother's Day which I kept for awhile in the kitchen enjoying the scent.  Then the plant started wilting so I researched the care for cilantro online and realized I would have to plant the darn thing in a planter that could go outside.

To do this I accompanied my husband on one of his many weekend trips to the hardware store.  I wandered the gardening section while he bought nuts and bolts and hardware type things.  I didn't find a planter I liked well enough, but I did find some mint and spearmint.  Remembering I had a long planter at home I decided to plant all three together.  We bought some dirt and some plant food and came home to put all three plants into their new home.

While I felt like a farmer with my hands in the dirt, I did not care for the bending over and kneeling parts of the planting.  I carried on, however, with some help from the hubby.  The planter is sitting below my bedroom window so that it receives the morning sun and not the afternoon heat.  Cilantro doesn't like high heat or sun.

While I was at it I got some hanging plants.  I used to have these every summer hanging on my front porch, but the doves would get into them, build nests, and deliver babies.  While we enjoyed that whole process we didn't care for their skittish behavior every time we entered or exited the front door.  I was also gone during the month of July and Tom got tired of keeping up with the watering of the plants so we haven't had them in the past three years.

Now that the house is painted and the lawn is in and growing I thought it time we brought back the hanging plants.  Tom wasn't too keen on it.  He doesn't think I will take care of them, but he relented and I bought three hanging planters.  I was very good the first week pruning and watering until I realized that my husband was also pruning and watering them.

We got that straightened out and so far so good.  A few days later found these little creatures that I put around the front of my newly landscaped yard.

Then I found this little worm that you put into your plant and he keeps track of whether or not the soil needs to be watered.  He darkens when the soil is moist and lightens when it needs water.  I love him.  I put him into the herb planter.

The front of the house looks fabulous now and we have been lucky with the rain so far.  Now we have to start on the back of the house.  The plan there is to xeriscape it as we had to remove the irrigation system when we put in the pool.  We have repainted the pool deck and Tom is busy decorating with some art work that he discovered while acting like a tourist one day on the beach.  Slowly, but surely we are making change for the better.