Thumb Getting Greener

So a couple of weeks ago, I went to Wal-Mart. Frustrated that I couldn't find a parking spot near the grocery side that I didn't have to walk a mile in the million degree heat to get inside, I decided I would park on the side of the building next to the garden section. I grabbed a cart from the parking lot and plopped Blaze, my 9 month old boy in the seat. Hurrying in to get the few things I needed, I was looking down at my list, looking through my coupon binder to see what I had coupons for and trying to get Blaze to sit in the cart. He thinks its pretty cool that he is able to stand up in the seat of the cart. Needless to say, he hears the word "No" a lot these days. I was paying absolutely no attention to my surroundings when I ran smack into a pallet of gardening soil. I looked up and realized all the beautiful plants that they had displayed. I have always liked plants and envious of any of my friends that grew plants and flowers at their house but I was horrible at keeping them alive. Instead of a green thumb, I had a black thumb. Not good. 

My many attempts at horticulture have failed miserably. I get as far as buying all the pots, a couple plants, and a bag of soil. They usually all end up on the back porch until I have to throw the plants away because I let it die. So sad. So you can imagine how my husband reacted when I come home and start to unload the works to test out my green thumb... again. By the way, just a little side note, my husband is the first person to be brutally honest with me and I love him for that. He makes me realize when I'm being a little ridiculous. For instance, I had this idea in my head for Blaze's 1st birthday party that we were going to do a farm animal theme. I want Blaze's birthdays to be a special thing. I had SO many ideas and they kept growing and growing. So when I presented my ideas to him they consisted of a cute 3 tiered cake that was going to be the farm with fondant farm animals on them and a tractor and a barn (ok not so bad). Then we were going to get a bounce house (still not outrageous). I was going to have him build a wood back drop of a barn so kids could have their picture made like they were Farmer Joe, maybe holding on to a cow or a horse (this is where it starts getting a little ridiculous). And the big tah-dah... we were going to have a petting zoo come to the party with 20 animals and then have 4 ponies for pony rides!! Cool, right??? Then he made me realize that Blaze would be happy with a box and a cake that he could play in. My balloon deflated but I did realize I needed to scale it down several notches. More like to all but one notch. So when I came home with a truck load of plants and supplies, I got "the" eye. Hopefully I can prove him wrong this time but more than anything, I want to prove it to myself. I want to learn something and be successful at something new.

Back to the plants. Let me just give the amateurs a few tips when picking out plants and flowers. These are baby steps and simple things I learned the hard way. Probably one of the reasons why my previous plant ventures didn't work out is because I didn't pay attention to the care tags that are in the soil of the plant. This is the easiest thing to do because all the handy information is right there in front of you. I assumed that any plant or flower can go anywhere and you watered it maybe once a week or when it looked "hungry". So very wrong on so many levels. You don't have to have a degree in horticulture or research endlessly to have plants and flowers in and around your house. It just takes a little attention to details. I will say since adding the couple of plants that I do have to my porch has added a great decorative edge.

First thing I do when looking for a plant is decide where I'm going to put it. Outside or inside? Full sun, part shade, full shade, sunlit room? Going off the care tags in the plant, it's easy to go off that information to decide which plants go in your desired area. Or if you have a desired plant that you want, you might coordinate where it goes by its care instructions.

Now that you have your plant/flower picked out, the next thing to do is get the correct size planter. You don't want to get a planter that is too small because the plants roots will not have enough room to grow and feed your plant. You also don't want to get a planter too big. There is usually an indicator (usually a sticker) on the plastic planter at the store that says which size planter is needed for that particular plant. Pick out your planter that's just the right size for your plant.

Next on the to do list is getting a bag of soil. I personally like the "Miracle Gro Organic Choice" products. I like that the soil feeds the plants up to 3 months. I like the fact that it's organic so it's Earth friendly. And I like to use the other Miracle Gro products to feed my plants so I like to keep it all in the same family.

When you get all your goodies home, set it all up in an area where you don't have to clean up as much. As a busy mom and wife, the less that I have to clean up, the better. I usually find myself a spot in the grass so if I spill soil, its no problem to just leave it there.

Supply Checklist:
1. Plant or flower
2. Planter
3. Soil
4. Watering can full of water
5. Gloves if you don't want to get your hands dirty
6. Trowel (optional)
6. "Miracle Gro Quick Start" (optional)

Step 1: You should fill the soil in your planter until it is about 1/3 of the way full.

Step 2: Take your plant/flower out of its original container and loosen the roots from the original dirt. Don't worry about hurting the plant. You are doing this to promote the roots to grow in its new home.

Step 3: Set your plant in your planter.

Step 4:Using your trowel, your hands if you don't mind getting dirty, or the original planter, scoop soil out of the bag and you will fill in the outside edge in between the planter and your plant. Note: You want to make sure the soil is not too loose. You don't want to have air pockets, so packing the soil down a little bit is a good idea. Make sure you fill the soil up to the top of the original soil and then apply a thin layer on top of that.

Step 5: With your watering can, give your plant with its new home a good watering. This will fill in any air pockets and give it a good start in its new planter.

The next steps are optional with the "Miracle Gro Quick Start"

Following the instructions on the container:

Step 1: Mix a cap full of "Miracle Gro Quick Start" in one gallon of water. (I kept an empty gallon of milk carton so I could use it over again.) Think: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Step 2: Give it a good shakin'.

Step 3: You will pour 1 cup of solution in each plant.

Step 4: Repeat Step 3 in 7 days.

Step 5: Repeat Step 3 again 14 days later.

You will continue to feed your plant every 14 days with the "Miracle Gro". I have had great success with this product and my plants and flowers have taken to their new homes and grown beautifully. Be sure and pay attention to the types of flowers and plants that your Quick Start solution feeds. You will need to get different kinds for cactus (succulents), roses and so on.

Remember, always pay attention to the needs of your plants. On the hotter days like we are having lately, water your plants everyday and sometimes twice a day. I would recommend twice a day for those that spend more than 4 hours in full sun. House plants and shade plants might not necessarily need watering once a day let alone twice a day. If you notice your plants looking droopy and you are only watering once a day, you might want to amp it up to twice a day. It's ok to experiment with your plant until you figure out a good schedule. Just don't let it die.

This is a journey for me and definitely learning as I go. I will discuss other planting issues in later blogs.

Now get to planting my fellow green thumbers!!! Comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Until next time!
-Kaci
"The Little Pioneer Girl"