My Aspiring Green Thumb...

I'm not sure if you are like me... but every spring...my green thumb starts getting a twitch to play in the garden and start planting.  I know where I get this from my Mom... who got her green thumb from her Mom (my amazing gardening Grandma Jones).  

My mother is an extraordinary gardener.  She starts her own plants from seeds in her house, she plants an amazing garden that supplies us with lots of swiss chard, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers and all sorts of fresh food goodness. 

​Then... in the fall... she makes jams and jellies and when it's time to take the garden out, she gathers all of the seeds so she has her own collection of heirloom seeds. 

My mom... A couple of years ago she let me take some images of her. This is one of my favorites.

My Mom is AMAZING!

Did I mention I love Sunflowers? The last year I had my garden at the farm - there were SO MANY! They brought so many beautiful bees to the garden!

We couldn't believe the biggest sunflower was bigger than my head!

A few years ago... I was SO fortunate that Tom's parents loaned me some space in their garden. 

It was a great adventure for two years... a place of solitude where I could go out to the garden and listen to the birds, the crickets , (get eaten by mosquitos... lol) and watch the gorgeous sunsets. 

These are treasured memories for me as I spent more time out at the farm, my kids would go and ride horses or play on the bails while I worked. 

​Conversations with Tom's family while rescuing tomatoes and cucumbers (and the summer we had endless spaghetti squash) are so special and I will always hold them close to my heart.

Sunsets in the garden were the best. So quiet and such an amazing place to regroup for the week ahead.

Last summer...2020 when everyone started to garden, Tom and I were talking about what we wanted to do to make gardening easier since our yard gets so hot.  I wanted something that was easy and quick to weed. (Because ain't no one got time to spend weeding endlessly!)

So...we decided on a 5 gallon pail garden.  Tom and the boys started making me raised wooden stands to hold three 5 gallon pails and in the meantime I just put the pails beside the house to  experiment how they would do.  That way I could move them around if I needed to.  Turns out they grew really well in our hot yard!

Cucumbers

Peppers

Turns out - I LOVE 5 gallon pail gardening!!!

I know this is not one of my regular posts, but it has been such a change to how successfully I can garden (which makes me very happy).  Just in case you are looking for a new way to garden, I thought I would share what was working for me. 

If you have any green thumb tips... please share them below!  I'd love to hear how I can become even more efficient!

Forever & Always,
​Melissa