Turning Over a New Leaf

For most of my life, I’ve been known as a plant killer. Black thumb does not even begin to describe my evil appendages. Well, that was until now... or so I’m really hoping.

The former homeowners of my house were avid gardeners and since buying the place three years ago I’ve pretty much been of the “live and let live” state of mind. This year, I decided to tackle the weeds and hope to salvage at least a few plants. I started weeding in the early spring and did my best not to pull out the potential flowers. So far, it looks like it has paid off. The spring started off with some gorgeous pink phlox (the picture doesn’t do them justice as it was taken when they weren't as full).


In May I was inspired by Mr. Perfect's Mom to try my hand at my own gardening. Armed with a book she lent me, I started planning out a flower bed that was all my doing. I realise it’s small, but my book says it’s better to space out your plants in the beginning. :-)

Here's a picture I took right after I finished planting them. It's hard to tell from the small image but I identified them in the picture: Purple Cornflowers, Hosta, Dianthus, Artemisia and another Hosta


A slightly nicer shot


These days I’m delighted to report a myriad of interesting flowers have appeared around the house including:

Wild Roses




Yellow Irises


Some kind of small yellow flowers on a green shrub


Cute little purple flowers


AND, I’m still not done! This weekend, Mr. Perfect and I planted a vegetable garden! I would never have attempted this without the careful direction of Mr. Perfect. He grew up always having a garden and has even had a few himself. We started yesterday by cutting out the grass and turning the soil. Mr. Perfect’s parents even dropped by to give us a few pointers and test the soil’s pH level. Once we were done our hard labour, we parked ourselves in front of the soon to be garden and enjoyed a few beers while admiring our pile of dirt. :-) Today, Mr. Perfect tiled the soil (with a mechanical tiller so it was a one-man job), then we formed rows and planted our seeds. Well, we started planting... that’s when a torrential rain storm started. We tried to keep going, but we could barely see anything and our hands were so muddy you couldn’t pick up the seeds. We tried waiting it out in the shed (very romantic, might I add), but then decided it was best to let it dry before continuing. After supper we picked-up were we left off. Here is the final product:


You might not be able to read the names, but we planted: yellow and green beans, onions, peas, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, green peppers, cucumbers, corn and spinach!