Misadventures in Gardening

So, I have a black thumb, y'all. If it's not a desert plant that can survive droughts, floods, scorching heat, and snow, then I. Will. Kill. It. 🤦‍♀️ BUT, I have a dream of someday growing a garden full of fruits and vegetables that my family will eat. So, it doesn't have to be a big garden. When it comes to eating my veggies, I'm basically a 6 year old. Like this guy.

My father in law gives us tomato starts, ready for transplanting, every year. Isn't he sweet?! Every year, I kill those damn tomatoes. Last year, our goats killed the tomatoes. And they annihilated my beautiful bamboo bean teepee. Not that it was actually growing any beans, due to said black thumb. But the teepee was beautiful!

This year, though? This year will be different! Ok, I say that every year. But here's the thing. I learn something new every year. Like Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb, I am finding a thousand different ways to NOT garden. So far, our patio, backyard raised beds, and anything in the suburbs, is out for us. Good thing we live in the country now! 😂

We had the best luck 2 summers ago, when we haphazardly put our tomato plants in the ground, stuck in some tomato cages, and didn't have goats that could get to the tomatoes. Those tomatoes did great!! First time ever! So last year, we put in a conventional garden. Fenced, gated, mowed, tilled, weeded, amended, planted, mulched, fertilized (organic), etc--a lot of work went into getting it started! We had a long row of a variety of tomatoes, a bean teppee, a couple raised beds that were to be planted in the fall, and a cattle panel trellis for watermelon and pumpkin. Darn goats broke into the garden before we got much planted, and we couldn't keep them out after that! So we abandoned post.