Gettin' You Guessin'

I will be honest.

I have a black thumb and it's a pretty bad one too.

I make a better shepherdess than I do a gardener. I can easily know when one of the ewe's isn't well. I know that they need to have plenty of food, water, and shade in order to survive and thrive. I watch my sheep daily to see if any are showing signs of lambing and if you really want to know, I got my fill of watching the lamb-making process this Fall. I don't necessarily enjoy the scene, but I love the thought of having lambs in the Spring and so every time I happened to see nature do "it's thing" I was happy. I grew up a shepherdess, but I was only an apprentice gardener.

Now I need to be both. Shepherdess and the one who tends the garden. I am above and beyond excited to get to grow food for us, but my lack of experience has already shown.



I had started my garden about three weeks ago, had bright green seedlings peeking through the soil, only to have most (not all) fry in the green house because it got too hot. The lesson was learned and now the doors are propped open during the day to allow for some circulating air. An experienced gardener would have known that on an 80 degree day it is unnecessary to have both doors closed. My broccoli were demolished save three or four, my calendula wilted to nothing, my cucumbers partly burned, but my pumpkins were the champs! Oh my, you should see their stalks, proudly boasting of their resilience to all the other not-so-fortunate's.

Yesterday, a second chance was given to my failing seedlings. It was another gorgeous sunny day and I replanted all that was lost. I am a bit wiser now and so hopefully the newly learned knowledge will show. Hopefully. To many of you this may seem small, trite, and down right silly. For me, it's a step in the right direction. Experience really is the best teacher and I've learned quite a bit already.

I am really liking my time planting and gettin' my hands dirty. Except for dirt under my fingernails...it really creeps me out, but I'm getting past it.

The one thing I am good at is my herb garden. You should see it! When we have company over I always have people stare amazed at how big my herb plants get. I think it is mainly due to them being planted on the eastern side of my house. They get the morning sun, but do not get sizzled during the hottest part of the day. My basil (which isn't shown) gets to be downright enormous and don't even mention the smell, you walk outside and it smells like heaven. I'm pretty sure if someone made a basil and mint perfume I would wear it.

I have a little game for you. I'm sure most of you will pass with flying colors. Can you guess which herbs are which? Answer in the comments, I can't wait to see how right you are!



Ready, set, go!