The Life and Times of Bendy Ruggles: Our First Ever (Sort of) Garden :D

For years, I haven't been able to keep a plant alive. I know the principles of gardening- I've been watching my Dad, stepmom, Mother in law and Mom do it for years with amazing skill and actually reap the rewards of a pretty yard and some yummy fresh veggies- but, for some reason, they have never really translated for me... Whether I was watering too much, putting them on the wrong side of the house, or they just didn't like me, who knows. As of a few years ago, I had pretty much given up and been resigned to the fact that my apartment would be bare of plant life for all time. Sad, but true.

This year, I decided to give it a go again.

It started when, on Mother's Day, I was given a plant as a gift from my Mother and Stepfather in law. They handed it over with a grin and said, "Hope it's alive next time we see you..." I had to laugh, but it made me all the more determined to keep THIS ONE alive. I almost failed again, I must admit. I hadn't gotten around to potting the plant after about a week, and it was really starting to droop and look like a sad little specimen. So I finally got my butt in gear, bought a pot and some Miracle Gro soil- I figured I can use all the help I can get. Once I'm a pro, maybe I'll consider going pesticide-free. heh.

Well, my plant came back! Bright and bushy and alive, in all its glory. Maybe being a Mommy has somehow made me more in tune with the pulse of life in all things- or probably, that's just hokey and finally something clicked and I figured out what I was doing wrong before. Or maybe it's just the location of my porch and the light it gets. All I knew was, I was psyched!

So I became inspired. When we went to the Farmer's Market a couple weeks later, I bought a pumpkin. Now, mind you, we don't have a yard. But I was told by the farmer at said market that this pumpkin (which is a special red kind, for even more coolness bonus points here) that if I bought a big enough pot, I could actually grow my pumpkin right on my porch! Yay! I was thinking that by the time Halloween rolls around, even if it's only a tiny little pumpkin, any home-grown pumpkin would be a cool source of fun for us and the Bend- to decorate and put a shiny red pumpkin out front will make her feel like such a big girl! So I brought him home, got him a pot... And here he is, weeks later, looking rather healthy and with a lot more leaves than he had when we bought him:

And then... My Stepmom gave me a whole bunch more plants. She had gotten a couple of flats for free off a friend who has a greenhouse, so she passed some along to me, too. Looking at all of them, I thought for sure, this is the end of my lucky streak with plants. There's no way I can keep like ten of them alive at once. But I'm happy to report, I was wrong! They are ALL thriving, and once Illy got over her urge to pull them out of their pots (which took a while- she had uprooted a few of them before she caught on that they're not toys and are supposed to stay IN the pots) they started growing like crazy and the flowers are blooming! So for once, I have a garden. Of some sort. I don't know that it counts when it's just ten pots scattered across the porch, but it still makes me happy. I go out there every day and check on them and it's so crazy just how fast they grow- it's good to know SOMETHING grows faster than little kids :P Here are some more pics I took of my happy little bunch: