I was on my way home from work today wondering if our tomato plant had gotten dry despite our new twice-a-day waterings when I realized what an insane thing the decade between high school graduation and 30 is. My early 20s were all about adventure, travel, being out all the time and lots of I’ll-sleep-when-I’m-dead and YOLO. (Then there were those three years I like to try to convince myself weren’t completely wasted in the library, so we’ll ignore them.) In my late 20s I’m focusing on a totally different kind of adventure. This is not some cliche I-just-want-to-sleep kind of progression. This adventure is still about pushing myself and seizing the moment, but it’s more about going weeks making home-cooked meals every weeknight and getting up at 5:00am to work out. I have to say, I really appreciate both phases!
I actually think Pippa has soil on her head here.
In that spirit, we are also taking this time to learn new skills and develop new hobbies we can enjoy together. Y’all know how I love Lara Casey, and hearing about the joy that she gets from her garden really got me thinking about it. So I put “plant a garden” on my May goals list, and it has grown (see what I did there?) into one of my favorite new hobbies! I officially have a dog and a garden of herbs (listen from 2:55 if you think I’m crazy), and I couldn’t be happier! I decided to wait a few months to see how it went before writing the verdict, and it has been going well!
I will not pretend that this post is any kind of how-to, because despite the fact that Will’s dad is a certified master gardener and my dad is a professional farmer, we really have no idea what we’re doing. Basically, we went to Home Depot on a drizzly Saturday in May and bought some stuff that looked tasty/pretty. Then we came home, made a huge mess on our balcony, experimented with some pot sizes and plant stands, ordered sushi, and watched Fantastic Lies (so good). It was one of my favorite recent Saturdays!
Our balcony gets a lot of sun, which could be a good or bad thing. These babies sure need a lot of water in July! We actually decided the plant stands were too much, we needed bigger pots for a few things, the watering can was too small, and we needed different brackets for the window boxes. But otherwise it was a pretty solid initial effort, and we got a chance to patronize our local mom-and-pop hardware store to pick up a few of those replacements.
We have two windowboxes, so we went with a his and hers situation with flowers in one and herbs in the other. Then we had a few extra begonias on the right side and a tomato and two pepper plants on the left. My side is prettier, but Will’s tastes better.
In the herb box we have cilantro, basil, rosemary, dill, and lavender.
I have been so impressed with how well Will’s side has grown! We are now forced to make pesto all the time due to excess basil, and Will’s little pepper plant has yielded five big green peppers! Still waiting on that first tomato, though.
Will “harvests” the rosemary.
I really can’t believe the begonias were ever that small. The pink one was labeled as a BIGonia, and I don’t know what they are normally like, but it is as advertised now.
It’s hard to get a full photo of the balcony, but this is a general idea!
Believe it or not, these photos were taken over a month ago, and they are much bigger now!
I just love coming home from work wondering how much the plants have grown and being greeted by both our fur baby and our green babies. I have a feeling we are going to be gardening for a very long time, so maybe I’ll actually start paying attention to the gardening articles in Southern Living and Garden & Gun. It’s nice to be outside digging in dirt and doing something that doesn’t involve a screen. We’ll see how long these first guinea pigs last!
Do you have any tips? Do you have a garden?
