Meet The Accidental Gardener...

Welcome to my adventure!

A little about me...

I grew up in the Midwest helping my Dad make our just under an acre yard beautiful. Many old, tall trees, woods on several sides; it was marvelous! And we lived next door to a professional landscaper who helped design beautiful areas and we filled in every year with annuals. I grumbled as a kid having to plant "hundreds" of plants, but as I got older and Dad started taking me to the nurseries and letting me have some say in arrangements, I began to look forward to the annual Spring plant. We would spread out the plants, pots, soil and tools and create masterpieces all day...and into the night if necessary! And the result was worth it: our yard was a paradise.

When I moved to Maryland and into my husband's apartment, our "gardens" were a few potted plants which I proceeded to kill with rapidity.

In 2012 we bought a house on 0.17 acres which had been vacant for about 3 years. This meant the yard was an absolute blank slate. I dreamed of hiring a professional to create a cohesive, gorgeous plan (hearkening back to my youth and having a lot to live up to!) that we would then execute. However once I started pricing this option with landscape designers that dream died quickly.

My husband convinced me it would be fun to create the landscape plan ourselves anyway. I was skeptical. But so began my research and incredibly unprofessional "Ten Year Plan". (Largely in my head and on scratched out lists; not really an actual sketched out plan!)

Starting from complete scratch as the most amateur gardener alive (as in, "Which one comes up year after year: annual or perennial?") was daunting, but once we had a very basic first plan for just one of our gardens, I began to agree with husband that it really was more rewarding to plan it yourself.

Since then it's been adding a little more each year. We're sort of garden obsessed now.

I've discovered that I love gardening. It is incredibly relaxing and rewarding in a way that I do not get from indoor housework. Working in an office 40+ hours a week, I find that I don't even mind the weeding part of gardening! It gets me outside and I soak in sun and the smells of dirt and plants and just enjoy the beauty that I'm trying to encourage.

So I sound like I totally know what I'm doing now, right?

Weeeeell...do I know a thousand times more than I did 3 years ago? Oh my, yes. Are my gardens thriving and producing and abundant? Well...yes and no.

And that's where the inspiration for this blog came in: through joking that when I try to make something grow, it dies and yet there are things popping up all over that were totally an accident.

So I invite you on the story of my journey in gardening and the hilarious mishaps and happy accidents that happen along the way!