I'm blogging this one handed on my iPad from my classroom. I had every intention of getting this classroom put to bed last Friday, but then the great plague hit and I didn't make it in. Now that its done, and has been done for a good bit, I'm just waiting for my fridge to defrost so I can go home. (Especially since I've already had my fair share of shenanigans for today).
Today I wanted to share with you my patio redo, so you can ooh and aah at my master gardening skills. As previously mentioned, my apartment is where plants go to die, and I wanted to change that. When the parents moved out of their house, they gave me their plants, which I then promptly killed. The good that came of that was that I now had several pots and such in which to fill with beautiful plants.
When I decided to start attempting to grow things, I did not have lofty goals. I was realistic. My goal was (and still is) to keep the patio plants alive for two weeks. That's all. The Dad mentioned that I should amend that to say two consecutive weeks, and he's right. So. I spent the entire weekend before Memorial Day weekend simply cleaning out the death and destruction that had been my patio since October. Once that was done, I then went to Walmart to buy plants and dirt and such but just couldn't do it. It was too much. So I went home empty handed.
Memorial Day Sunday, I got an itch to just get it done, so I went to the Mothership of planting places: Calloway nursery. It was a cool(ish) day, and there was a cool breeze, and they had classical music playing (for the plants I assume) and it was just beautiful.
Now, since I'm a complete rookie at this whole process, I used the best methods I knew how to pick which flowers I would get: "ooh that's pretty", "that isn't too expensive", "that says drought-resistant", and of course, "eeny, meeny, miney, mo". I also solicited help from The Mom and The Aunt, and ended up with a pretty nice selection.
And no, I didn't get the peppers. If I don't even eat them, why would I grow them?
I am pretty sure the checker at Calloway thought I was an idiot, and I'm pretty sure that she was right, but I managed to get all of the plants into the car and headed for home. Then the real challenges began, the first of which was getting them up the stairs to my second floor apartment.
The real challenge came in trying to transplant the little buggers into pots. I consulted The Google and The Wiki-how, and they both helped me in getting the plants in and settled. Here is what the patio now looks like:
And that last pot? That has my tomato plants. I am determined to grow me a tomato.
S, there's my new patio in all its glory. The top plants, my impatients, didn't last more than a day and a half. I'm trying to nurse them back to health, and they are on their way. The marigolds and zinnias have only lasted about a week, and they're suffering too. I pruned the dead parts off and I'm trying to nurse them as well.
Hydrangeas? My one splurge.
Died two days later.
I moved them out of the sun, and have worked tirelessly to get them back to blooming, and today I'm seeing some progress. Finally. My little pink blooms are coming back to life.
There is, however, one minor problem that I've discovered now that for the first time in ten years I've had living plants and flowers.
Someone thinks they are very tasty.
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