I started a flower bed recently.
That’s a fairly normal Springtime activity, I realize, but it’s unusual for me. I struggle to keep plants alive.
I try to take proper care of them. I like plants and the way they improve a room or outdoor space. I really like brightly colored flowers.
I just seem to do something wrong with most plants I have.
For instance there is a depressed plant in the Lincoln County News office window now and it’s my fault. I bought it last year and it was fine for a while. It was even growing.
Then I over-watered it. It drooped.
The long green leaves now lean over pathetically as if the plant is tired of living.
No attempt to cheer it up has been successful although I maintain hope that it will pull through and survive.
We have houseplants at home which are alive because Brian takes care of them.
He’s pretty good with plants.
So I decided to try a flowerbed, hoping that --with Brian’s plant knowledge--the flowers in our yard will thrive. I’ve not had a flower bed since I was a teenager and I miss the cheer and color of one.
The entire family helped prepare one flower bed. We dug up weeds and leveled the ground.
I thoroughly enjoyed selecting the flowers. We decided on petunias.
I bought a new water hose, spray nozzle and a soaker hose. I’ve asked lots of questions about proper flower care.
Equipped with trowel, hoses and new garden gloves, my daughter Melody and I carefully planted the petunias.
We followed Brian’s advice for the fertilizer and distance between plants.
That was several days ago. So far the plants seem to be fairly healthy. Only one plant isn’t growing quickly and that does sadden me but I think it will be ok.
Although the plant is still small, it’s putting on new leaves.
Encouraged by that success I planted more flowers in pots for the porch and bought a few more indoor plants.
Brian even dug up another flower bed area. We’ll see how it goes.