A new adventure

Last week I took the week off from work...a staycation, if you will. My sister was on her spring break so we decided to get stuff done around the house. Now, if you know me, that's pretty much saying devote about 1/2 an hour a day to doing stuff around the house just so I can say that, yes, I did get some stuff done. Mostly, what I worked on was planting a teeny tiny veggie garden.

I originally had these grand plans for a raised flower bed and rows of little veggie plants but being a lazy wench, I ended up buying a few plants and getting some seedlings from a friend. So, now, I have 1 tomato plant, 1 green bell pepper plant, 1 jalapeno plant (that doesn't look like it's going to make it), 1 Santa Fe Grande pepper plant, 1 sweet basil, 3 cucumber, 1 purple bean, 2 broccoli, 2 spinach (the last 4 are still just itty bitty seedlings that are struggling to survive).


I've been inundated with signs telling me I should do this. The first was an article in Better Homes and Gardens about raised beds and planting veggies specifically for certain things (like salsa or Italian foods), then the seedlings being offered to me, then two different friends who don't know each other telling me that they're both doing raised beds and planting and then some blog posts that mention it (and here's one I actually found when doing a little research). I figure I really don't need to be beat over the head that much to catch on...so I planted.


There are 2 obstacles that I'm going to have to hurdle...1) I don't really like very many veggies. My sister is a veggie fan so I planted some that are her favorites (broccoli & cucumber - gross!) and 2) I've never kept a plant alive that wasn't in the cactus family. I'm relying heavily on my mother to get me through this one. I'm usually the kind of person that needs all the information before I start something like this. Normally, I'd read piles of books and magazine articles in order to garner the best way to do things but since time really won't allow that (this much I know about planting, it has to be done at certain times... I think) and since my mother has never killed a plant or met a plant that didn't flourish under her bright green thumb, I figure she's all the reference I need. And so far so good (I know it's only been a week but I've killed plants in a lot less time).

Really what I'm looking forward to are the peppers. Neither my sister nor I like tomatoes in their fresh raw state, so why, you might ask, do I have a tomato plant? Well, I'm a big fan of salsa and we both love things like marinara sauce, etc. But the peppers, they're really what this is all about for me. I can't wait! I think my next step will be to plant a couple of herb pots. They seem a little more delicate and easy to kill. Of course, I don't really know this, but that's what it seems like. I guess I gotta make a call to my mom again.

Just as a side note, over the weekend, my sister decided to put her bed together (it's an Ikea bed). The bed we bought her 3 years ago for her birthday. Procrastination runs in the family.