Gardening 101: Developing a Green Thumb

When I first bought my house I could see so much potential in the front and backyard.  I had all these ideas but didn’t know where to start.  Holding two $50 Home Depot gift cards that were house warming gift from friends, I headed to my local HD garden center a purchased about $250 in plants. It took me almost 5 days to plant everything.   Honestly, my first year in the house I spent approximate $400 in plants and planting materials.  At the start of the next growing season, only 4 plants returned in the spring.  It was an expensive and important lesson I learned that year:

• Lesson 1: Annuals don’t come back, perennials do.
• Lesson 2: Just because the label says full sun, doesn’t mean it will survive full Texas sun.
• Lesson 3: In Texas native plants are best. They can handle the heat & are drought tolerant.
• Lesson 4: Have a plan, don’t just plop it in the ground with no rhyme or reason.
• Lesson 5: Get to know someone who knows what they’re doing.

It was by God’s grace that I mentioned my pitiful yard to a co-worker who was an avid gardener and she just so happens to attend a gardening class. The instructor Lucy Harrell offers free organic gardening information on the first Wednesday of every month, in addition to other classes she teaches.  The classes range from small seasonal gardens to designing your landscape.   

Desperate for help, I went to the next class and was hooked.  In total, I have attended five “First Wednesday” classes and now I know what to and what not to plant. While I am still not totally embracing the organic thing, because I really hate bugs and believe they should die, I’m learning that organic gardening believes “good” bugs are our friends and I shouldn’t kill them; but encourage them to multiply. Here is the link to Lucy’s site http://www.organicgardeningtx.com/.  It has a lot of helpful hints if you want to try organic gardening & live in Texas. I’m not sure if her advice would apply to other states, her plant list is mostly for Texas.  The class has been a major help and my front yard looks better because of it.  Here are a few tips I have learned since attending the “First Wednesday” classes:

1. Know your zone. You don’t want to purchase plants that can’t survive in your zone. If you don’t know what zone you’re in check out this link. http://www.garden.org/zipzone/
2. Know your sun/shade type. Check at least 7 times during the day from sun up to sun down.
3. Know your soil type. It will help with the watering schedule.
4. Go native as much as possible. It will make a HUGE difference.
5. Plant tree and shrubs first. Focus on 5-7 specific plants for an area. Once you have your base plants established you can then branch out with more plants.

Here are a few photos of the plants I’ve planted in my front yard. Next spring is the big challenge…. the backyard.   I plan to add a deck and some raised garden beds.  In all honesty, I’m trying to build stuff that will eat up the yard so I don’t have as much to mow and I might actually go back there.