Most wanted - plant killer

   This week my daughter came home with a plant. She asked if we could plant it right away. I was told it was a tree.

   Um, Ok. It just looks like a bare twig with a bunch of roots dangling at the end. But its roots were thoughtfully wrapped in a wet paper towel. And every kid at school got one. She promised to take care of it all by herself. She even found a pot and planted it to get it started.

Because my daughter knows something that the school doesn't know.

   Her mother is a notorious plant murderer. Wanted in our state for purchase and slaughter of innocent plants. Know to decimate small patches of garden in the short space of two seasons. In this mom's unstoppable crime spree there have been a long list of victims: Mother-in-Law Tounges, Spider Plants, Roses, Dogwood Trees, and even cactus. Did you know that you were not supposed to water cactus every day?

That makes the school an accessory.

   Evidence of my plant killing skills can be seen at every turn. Most of the flower pots in our house

are empty. See the pretty tulips that I received? Another testimony to my decidedly not so green thumbs. Oh well, plant the bulbs, right? They will come back next year! Won't they?

   That is not to say that we don't love growing things or that we do not have things growing around our house, because we do. There are lots of trees and plants and stuff. You see, we have what is called a Darwin Yard. Where the most fittest, heartiest plants thrive and survive.

   Tulips have proven to be winners of the Survival Awards each spring, despite numerous plantings and re-plantings.  Someone told me that the bulbs are supposed to be planted a certain way, and at a certain time of the year.....Not these bad boys! Little bit of shade, they don't care. Competing with other plant species? No problem! Dig a hole, throw them in, cover with dirt and they figure out the rest! Quite nicely, I might add.

   Another winner would be the massive lilac bushes that we have growing all around our back yard. The entire neighborhood smells of lilac as soon as they bloom. Granted, they were here when we bought the house, but look how well they thrive with our care.

We also try our hand at growing a vegetable garden each year. See, we have started our seedling soup plantings. Seeds are supposed to float, right?

   Once we see leaves start, we will faithfully transfer the beans, bell peppers and cucumbers to our pocket sized garden patch (that only suffers from a little bit of shade in the morning and in the evening). To this we will add lettuce, radishes and carrots. From there we will water them (when we remember on our watering days) and, um, forget to weed them. But weeding is really over-rated if you ask me. And the weeds serve an important purpose in our garden plot. They help keep the intentionally planted produce thinned out properly so that the plants can grow nice and thick. Worked with the radishes and carrots - mostly. And other plants have made it through our ministrations too. See, we had a great harvest last year....or was it the year before? Nothing like fresh, tasty veggies!

We won't talk about the later harvest and the cucumber balls. 

    

    Thankfully, our friends are gifted gardeners that grow large and overflowing gardens of thick, ripe, juicy vegetables and are more than happy to share their bounty, so we eat plenty of fresh produce.

Not too sure about this tree thing though. Hopefully the school won't face any charges.

   I am pleased to say this year, we do have a fine crop coming in already...