What Makes A Good Gardener?

Experience~ just gardening will make you a better gardener. Some of your attempts will succeed, do those things again. Some will fail, no need to retry those next season.

Consistency & Persistence~ plants are a lot like children and pets. Regular care is required. If you are looking for a hobby that you can put down for a couple of months, consider crocheting.

Observation & Adaptation~ pay attention to your plants and what’s going on in their lives. When things aren’t going well, a good observer can cut disaster off at the pass. When a cool or wet season sneaks in, roll with the punches. Each season will be different. Have a plan, but be flexible.

Failure~ your garden will not look like Martha Stewart’s. Get over it! She has a staff and the benefit of airbrushed photography. You will kill plants. In the real world, plants get bugs and diseases. This does not mean that you have a black thumb. Don’t give up.

There are so many facets of our lives that we have to follow the rules and play nicely. Allow yourself to escape into your garden. Perhaps this is just the right place for a little rebellious streak? Make your garden a guilt free zone. Experiment, fail, experiment again.

Garden Junkie

Interested in a spot to host your gardening club? Want tips on how to make fantastic refrigerator pickles? Check out former Art Chick Melody's blog~ thegardenjunkie.blogspot.com.

Are you a Dirty Girl?

You might be a dirty girl if you've spent more money to keep the deer away from a plant than it would cost to replace the plant.

You might be a dirty girl if your kitchen utensils occasionally do double duty outdoors.

You might be a dirty girl if you cannot conceal a smile as you tell tales of killing slugs.

You might be a dirty girl if you have ruined clothing because you mysteriously found yourself weeding.

You might be a dirty girl if you have spent more money on plants than on groceries.

You might be a dirty girl if you have urinated in your yard in an attempt to keep away critters.

You might be a dirty girl if you have ever used the 'f' word while running through your yard in a nightgown shooing rabbits.

You might be a dirty girl if your manicure maintains a greenish brown hue a full three months of every year.

You might be a dirty girl if you have ever conducted a search and seizure of a rare plant from an abandoned property.

You might be a dirty girl if you suspect that God made rainy days so that you can get some housework done.

You might be a dirty girl if you understand that "a favorite of birds" means you'd be a fool to plant it near your clothesline or driveway.

You might be a dirty girl if you believe that plants labeled "vigorous" have a Napoleonic compulsion to take over the world.

You might be a dirty girl if you suspect that "Zone 5 with protection" is a variation on the phrase "Russian roulette."

You might be a dirty girl if you get sweaty palms and blurred vision when you think of those novice gardeners who ask big box employees for plant advice. [You might be a really dirty girl if you have been unable to control yourself and interrupted one of those inquiries by shouting "Begonias are annuals!"]

You might be a dirty girl if you laugh uncontrollably at the mention of a 'low maintenance garden'.