My thumb is turning Green

I decided that this year, I will work very hard on our gardens.  When we moved in, the yard and gardens were beautiful.  Then it got hot and didn't rain for a really long time and I let it die.  There was no way to keep everything alive.  It has been a learning experience that is for sure.  I have learned that I am good at taking care of small sections at a time.  I tried to have a big vegetable garden the first year, but it was hard to keep going.  Last year, we created a small raised bed.  It started out great, but didn't produce due to a drought and watering restrictions.  This year, I added 2 more raised vegetable bed, (making 3 total).  There is going to be so many vegetables that I won't be able to keep up!  The front bed is what I call my salsa garden.  It has tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, basil, parsley, spearmint and rosemary.  The herbs are some of my favorite things that I planted so far.  I love to go pick a leaf and smell it!  I also added some flowers.  I bought plants that were already started for the front garden.  The back yard is my salad garden.  I bought a seed packets for these beds.  It has cucumbers, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and yellow squash.  My husband got 2 thorn-less blackberry bushes for his birthday and we planted them too.  I am so excited that it is going so well this year!  I feel like I got the hang of it.  I don't think that I can go back to just having a big garden in the middle of the yard ever again.  The raised beds are much easier to weed than the other type of garden was.  I was having to get out the rototiller several times a week and I couldn't keep the weeds and grass out of it.



The other thing that I accomplished is getting my flower beds in shape.  They were just terrible!  Weeds kept coming and the flowers dried up.  I have mulched almost everything and I use miracle grow all the time!  So far they are doing great, but we have also had a lot of rain this year, thank goodness.  90% of all the flowers and perennials that I have bought have been clearance.  I was really proud of that.  I could walk into Lowes and buy 2.5qt size perennials that look dead for $1 or less and take them home and they are doing great!  I bought about $70 worth of plants and one big bag of potting soil and only spent $20.  I have bought a few things that were not on sale though, like the vegetables and a few annuals, but I couldn't get those cheaper.  Since it looks good, it's fun to go out and maintain!