The trials & tribulations of my first garden.

Having an outdoor space has always been a priority for me. Wherever my husband and I lived in the past we always had something where I could try out my green thumb with pots, hanging baskets, wall planters always dreaming of the day when I had a garden of my very own. Well having said that this is definitely not the garden I wanted to start out with, it was a giant space of hard patchy dirt, weeds, over grown shrubs and trees planted without any forethought. I remember the first spring I put out 37 garden bags, 15 bundles of branches & 6 root balls alone!

magnolia in bloom

After it was all cleared I did something incredibly naive, I went to a garden centre! Probably doesn’t sound terrible but with a big empty yard and the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning it was not a great idea. I just went to town, oh one of those, that looks cool..wow how beautiful! Is it making more sense? I just planted willy nilly, things died or grew too well and over took others. I was never happy with the way it looked. So I took the winter to regroup, bought some books and received a well needed subscription to Canadian Gardening from my mother-in-law (thanks Donna!).

The second spring & summer were better but I still was apprehensive and frustrated. I decided to join the Etobicoke Horticultural Society. I remember the first meeting was so intimidating and I felt very much out of my league. All these people were so very serious and well..a lot of latin names were being thrown around. Something happened during this time, these people actually live to garden its true but more than that they live to talk to others about gardening. Tips poured in, snips of plants that would work were donated and I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Who knew that you could begin to understand your soil? I decided to be patient and give it one more season before throwing in the towel and filling in the backyard with pea gravel and potted plants! This year things began to click and for the first time I was looking forward to getting started. Quite honestly it could have just been the crazy winter we had but I know it was more than that. I felt comfortable in my garden, I knew where things would come up, what had to be moved and what it needed. I had a plan and goals to get it to a state where I could enjoy my hard work and I became excited again.

It’s all about trial and error. I learned that gardening is not easy but it is very rewarding. It’s about being patient but resourceful, but most of all its about enjoyment and peace. Although it is still a work in progress I am at least enjoying the journey and so with that I wish all my fellow gardeners out there a season of success & growth!

Trillium - Ontario's flower