Glorious Gardening!

While it is true that we do not have a garden in the traditional sense...

I was not going to let that little detail get in our way on the first weekend of SPRING! We headed straight to Home Depot (it's for wives too, trust me!) to select the perfect patio perennials. Much to our excitement, hubby spotted these gorgeous Gardenias:

(Ok, will-be-gorgeous when blooming time comes!)

Don't have a green thumb? Don't worry. Gardening doesn't have to be difficult. When you shop for your plants, consider where they will be at your house, how much sun they will see, and how much effort you'll need to put into caring for them.

For us, our garden hangs from 2 lovely planters on our patio- not ideal, but definitely workable. We started with our Gardenias by pulling them out of their store-planter (soil intact) and placing them into our (much cuter) planters. Then, we added soil around the edges to create a nice, tight but-not-too-tight home for our plant.

Then we hung our plants from some little hooks (previously there, thank goodness!) so as to avoid watery hanging mess, post-fertilizing.

Then, we added our fertilizer. You really don't need much. We used about 2 C water and literally a few drops of fertilizer for now. We plan to water daily, but fertilize once-a-week, and assess frequency as needed.

Now are plants are new, shiny and green! Just think how much more fun dinner on the patio will be now....ahh bliss.

We chose Gardenias because they are relatively durable and can withstand the sunny, warm climate in which we live. We learned from past experience that fertilizer is a necessary part of the gardening process. We watched our little blossoms sadly dry to potpurri last year during July. This year, we are planting during a more temperate season, and we are armed with reinforcements. Hopefully this time around will be a no-brainer.

Our back-up-indoor-Gerbera Daisies... just in case!