Summer Sun and Fun

Well, after planting my garden, I was surprised at how everything took off. Seeds are tiny packages of dynamite, ready to explode given the right soil, water, and sun.



As you can imagine, I was super excited to put stuff in the ground and did so very early. I planted everything too early and everyone said it would all die. I was willing to accept that if it happened but guess what! It didn't! Almost everything lived, except some poor cucumbers. I replanted some and they grew too.

We now have sunflowers (thus delicious sunflower seeds) green beans, lettuce, basil, cilantro, tomatoes, strawberries, and hopefully cucumbers soon!

Things I realized about gardens:

1. Birds are not your friends. Sure you feel sorry because for them because they live outside and you live in a big house with furniture but they will decimate your garden!



2. I love squirrels but they love my sunflowers, not me! It is a weird relationship. I saw a very bold squirrel bite a stalk of a sunflower down and then proceed to eat the seeds out of it. The pesky beast did it right in front of me, knowing that I have a soft spot for him. Damn squirrels. So, beat the squirrels to the punch (either literally or figuratively) and get your sunflower seeds before him.



3. The reason they call it "planting season" is because that is the ideal time for seeds to germinate. If you plant after said season, you will have less favorable results.



4. Sometimes the mystery plant blooms and looks amazing (see below picture). I wanted to pull up this plant, which I thought was a weed, forever. I didn't because I hate killing things, even plants. Then low and behold, it produced these incredibly beautiful flowers.



5. Huge bush. (T-he). I wanted to rip it out of the ground. Once again, glad I didn't. It turned pink and full with beautiful blossoms in spring.



6. Leaving for a week to go travel and visit home means your garden will become overgrown with weeds. Even though, you put a boy in charge of watering it, it appears, that is all he did. The lesson here: weeds are bitches and they will take over everything, especially the viney breeds.



7. Nothing is better than waking up at dawn, weeding, and then making said non-weeding partner get up and eat a breakfast salad with you at 6 am when you return home. Delicious revenge.



8. Last but not least, summer vegetables are delicious. Worth every minute.