As I embarked on my first year of gardening, I did not expect to become as attached to my plants as I have. I knew plants took time and effort, but no one ever warned me that I would begin to know the look of dehydration or lack of nutrients in one quick look.   As the adventure began, there was a bit of a learning curve. I had watched my parents take care of plants for as long as I can remember, but reminding myself to fertilize my plants once a week was a challenge right away. As a routine fell into place- Mondays, I always fertilize on Mondays- I became more comfortable with my gardening skills. The plants seemed to agree as the first signs of peppers, cucumbers, and growth in the flowers began to show.

One month into my plants thriving, I went outside one day and found one of my plants dug up and laying on its side. I instantly blamed the rabbits that live under my deck or the squirrels that freely roam the back yard, although the neighborhood family of turkeys with their eight babies were suspect too. In hopes of saving the plant, I re-planted it, watered it right away, and called my father to make sure there was nothing else I could do. Turns out, I would have to wait it out and see if it worked.

In order to pass the time, I transferred my cucumber sprouts into a larger pot and took to watching the few pepper blooms slowly mature. I was fascinated how certain plants grew and how a few of the flowers did not seem to enjoy their current home. While my begonias and scented geranium were growing leaps and bounds, my petunias and spikes seemed to lag behind. Overall I was feeling accomplished though because none of the plants had flat out died yet.

Over the next month, I finally began to cross off a few of the looming goals for my plants: first bell pepper, first jalapeño pepper, first cucumber bloom, etc. I was beginning to think that I had this whole gardening thing down especially since the poor plant that had been ripped from the ground still seemed to be producing blooms! Then the disappointments came along too. My bell pepper plant only produced one pepper, the begonias have totally taken over the spikes, and the scented geranium has really taken over the other four flowers in its pot.

The back and forth has continued but overall I am a happy first year gardener. I currently have two cucumbers and four different kinds of peppers in my fridge ready to be eaten. My begonias are a beautiful addition to my deck. While I may still be disappointed that the bell pepper and the damaged sweet pepper plants don’t seem to be producing any more blooms, the Thunderbolt and Anaheim Chili plants are picking up the slack with a pepper ready to pick every day.

The experience thus far has been quite an enjoyable ride. I am already planning my bigger and better garden for next year, because after having fresh vegetables to savor, I don’t want to go back to buying them in the store. I may be biased, but mine definitely taste better.

Next year I’ll have to plant some fruits too- my vegetable to fruit ratio is very imbalanced lately. Fresh strawberries, here I come!

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Guest blog by Monica DeRee

I come from a line of gardeners, planters, and flower lovers, so why I am so worried about finding my own green thumb? I have no idea why the worry is present, but I finally decided this year was the year I would accept the challenge and attempt to grow my own plants. I am happy to say that I am two weeks into being a plant parent, and they are still alive even if the weather in Minnesota is trying to say otherwise. As I am writing this, my plants are currently huddled up in the house avoiding the night of mid-30° weather and possible frost.

I started my journey by asking my dad for advice, and luckily for me, my dad is a magician when it comes to growing beautiful plants. With his help, I was able to gather all the necessary materials and plants to begin my plant parent journey. My dad and I chose some begonias, petunias, a geranium, spikes, a creeping wire vine, a variety of peppers, and a few other varieties of flowers to plant  At the beginning of May, there was a warm, 70° Minnesotan day and I decided to get my hands dirty and plant.

As I began to mix the soil, I remembered what fun it is to dig in dirt and do something messy again. I am not a stranger to messy work, as my current career is labor intensive, but this was a different type of work. This was almost therapeutic, and as my hands became messier, the more fun I had. I mixed up two pots of soil and decided to plant the peppers first. This was a good way to ease myself in, as I only needed to plant three per pot and I felt I couldn’t mess up those easy instructions. After I had the peppers planted, I was so excited that I immediately took a “proud parent” picture.

Now came the hard part, the flowers. Although I like to think I have an eye for design, this was a whole new kind of design. I was ready to dive in, but was still worried I would mess up the beautiful pot layout my dad had in mind. With many pictures sent back and forth, I finally was able to arrive at the correct layout and took to the dirt again. After another hour, I had completed the planting and fertilized all the plants. I took another photo to send to my dad, my friends, and show anyone who would listen which now includes you:

With all the plants in pots, I cleaned up the planting area, washed my hands, and welcomed the feeling of accomplishment that settled in.

As I said earlier, I am now a couple weeks into being a plant parent and I love it! The flowers are starting to fill out and the pepper plants are starting to bloom. As a twenty-something, I feel an accomplishment that I have been able to successfully take care of another living thing. I look at this as training for the future pets and kids I will have. Although those may be more difficult than plants, I like to start small and work my way up.

While the worry that my little plants may not survive continues, I am feeling more confident as the days roll on. I look forward to taking a picture of my first pepper and then promptly sending it to everyone I know, especially my dad. The next step for me is starting cucumbers from seed. I am excited to continue my plant parenting journey and while my thumb may not be fully green yet, I do see a nice green tint starting to settle in.

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