Have I Found My Green Thumb?

By Erin

Before Memorial Day, this is what my garden looked like.  Some Basil, which was new, and I think some Rosemary left over from last year.  Or maybe Thyme. I couldn’t tell.  Lots of rocks and dirt, and not much that’s pretty to look at.

Chairs stacked up, covered with dirt.

A few flowers that bloomed unexpectedly – I THOUGHT they were annuals, but I guess not! So I left them there.

We are super lucky to have any outdoor space at all in Jersey City, let alone a patio that’s big enough for a table and chairs, so I was determined to clean it up and make sure it was a place we could once again entertain.  You’ll remember I’ve done different stuff out back – vegetables, some flowers, plants.  This summer I wanted to stick to flowers in pinks and purples.

I spent Memorial Day picking up rocks, digging, and planting these flowers that I bought from our local garden center.  I don’t know what any of the them are, except for the Hydrangea, which are my favorite!

I planted them on Monday, and Thursday morning I woke up to a squirrel running right through them! We have this one rogue squirrel that is a problem. It ate our Xmas lights.  Like, the whole freaking light bulbs off the cord.   He is NOT my friend.

I tried to help the plants recover from their trampling, and I think they’ll be fine. After some water and a nice sunny weekend, they’re on their way to re-cooperation!  Here’s how the back looks now – quite a change! I’m very proud of myself.

This weekend was spent scrubbing chairs and tables, and making the patio somewhere pretty and inviting to sit, finally!  I still haven’t mulched – I can’t decide if I’m going to.  It seems like a bit of a pain for such a small space. What do you think about mulching??