I Keep Trying

I probably need to do some explaining. Yesterday I wrote that I am a bit of a lazy gardener, that I prefer gardens that are low maintenance. Why? There is some truth to be found in the fact that I really don't enjoy getting hot and sweaty. But I probably wouldn't mind that if I didn't have almost a lifetime of trying to successfully garden only to have the results very disappointing. Most of my adult life I lived in Virginia in a house that was in the midst of four acres of woods and with soil that was mostly rock. That's a combination leading to poor results right from the start. After living there many years and after extensive renovations of our house, I spent a lot of money working with a landscape architect and having part of the yard developed for a rose garden and flowering trees and shrubs. That's when my love affair with Bambi ended. I found that I had spent all the money not for my own enjoyment and pleasure but for, quite literally, herds of deer. What they didn't eat they destroyed in other ways. One day I even found a one up on my porch deck happily munching the tender flowers in a planter by my front door! I do think that I have a green thumb, however. I have been quite successful with container gardening. I have been able to maintain and reflower orchids and poinsettias. I have even rooted and grown avocado trees and huge pineapple plants. And this year I am trying my luck with a small vegetable/herb garden in a large planter on my upstairs porch. I am getting pretty excited that "maybe" this year will be a breakthrough gardening year for me, that I will actually have tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers to harvest. They are all flowering, and yesterday I spied three tiny tomatoes starting to grow. The location for the planter seems to be perfect. It gets morning and late afternoon sun. I can easily water it and keep an eye out for insect predators and is, hopefully, too far off the ground for most four legged pests. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.