From Brown to Greenish

After lurking on many Austin gardening blogs for quite a while now, I've decided it's time to start my own. My hesitancy stems from the fact that well, I'm not really a gardener. I'm still a wannabe. Until three years ago, I killed every plant within a 10-foot-radius, even those that experts claimed couldn't be killed.

Pothos ivy, peace lily, cactus, airplants.

I lived in an apartment and blamed the plants' deaths of the hot concrete deck where they lived. When I moved into a house, I thought all would change. I asked advice of a friend who claimed she knew plants. (It turns out she knew plants but only those that thrived in Colorado.)

I killed pittosporum, portulaca, and pansies. I felt so bad about the pansies because they had bloomed so well over the winter and then died. I didn't know that's what they did.

So for several years, I didn't attempt to grow anything. I avoided the garden section of the home improvement stores because it was really just a walk of shame, "Killed that, and that, and that. . . ." Well, you get the picture.

Finally, about two and a half years ago, I decided my lifeless yard was beyond depressing, and that I could grow plants if I just learned how to.

To various degrees, it has worked. I'm much more successful with vegetables than ornamentals because that's where I started. Of course, I still have a lot to learn but that's the fun part of gardening.

I'm hoping to improve the ornamental situation soon and hope this blog will chronicle that experience.

Here's a picture from my first vegetable bed in November 2005. The far half is planted in winter vegetables, the near part in a mix of compost crops--hairy vetch, rye, and fava beans. I think I've become a better gardener , but I know I've become a better photographer.