I would love to say I have a green thumb but I have a feeling it is more olive green/brown than true green.
I just knew when I purchased my first house after living in apartments for most of my married life, I would plant every plant imaginable around my house and make it my oasis. I was going to have a house like one of the magazine covers with gorgeous colors, lush leaves, green grass and the perfect gazebo/sitting area to gaze upon my wonders. Fast forward 5 years and we have patchy grass with large bare spots, a couple of trees that look like a 3 year-old's family tree craft project with a few leaves here and there, and some bushes that are about 2 inches larger than they were when we first planted them almost 4 1/2 years ago.
Now that we have decided to stay in our home after a year of having it on the market, we are trying to finally get started on our ambitious plans to make the yard of our dreams become a glimmer of reality.
For instance, tonight I went outside and decided to plant one of the 4 Crepe Myrtle trees we bought late in the fall. We bought them when they were just twig looking things with no leaves on them and were a buck at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. By the way, if you have one of those near you, check it out. That is one of my favorite home decorating places now. They have been sitting in the original pots we picked them up in back in November and I felt like it was about time they were planted in a more permanent setting.
Anyway, the trees really aren't that big now so it shouldn't have been a problem except for our soil which is rock hard clay. I mean rock hard! Literally as you dig into the ground, it breaks up into larger rock like mounds of clay. My parents had this type of soil growing up and I dreamed of owning a house that had lush fertile soil. I moved across the US and what do I get...red clay!
This shouldn't be a big deal...just dig a hole, plant the tree and water. However in the last few years you can say I have relaxed a little on my physical fitness so I am not in great shape to be digging large holes in rock hard earth to plant a group of twigs with some leaves on them.
Some of you are saying, "Where's Mr. A?" Besides at a men's bible study tonight which I definitely feel is more important that planting twigs into the soil, his back is extremely bad right now (a protruding disc with a tear in it) and has been out on medical leave since January so the thought of him even picking up a shovel is out of the question.
Feeling ready for the challenge, I grabbed the wheel barrow, a couple of shovels, my work gloves and my mp3 player and attempted to look like I knew what I was doing. I strapped the mp3 player to my left arm and began to dig. Clank! The shovel didn't even break the soil. This was not looking good! I moved over a couple of inches and stood on top of the shovel. Break through. It actually cracked through the soil. I began to dig some more. This was going pretty well and I began to figure out why. I was digging a hole where there was a hole previously. See I attempted this gardening thing once before with dwarf crepe myrtles called 'Razzle Dazzles.' They were suppose to be like the crepe myrtle trees but in a bush. Unfortunately the 'Razzle Dazzle's' fizzled but the soil from where the plant use to be was loose and had mulch/planting soil mixed into it. Yeah God! I might actually get two holes dug up instead of just one.
I finished digging all of the good, rich soil that had been in there previously out and into the wheel barrow and started trying to make the hole a little wider since this tree was bigger than the previously dazzle-less bush had been. Here is where I started running into my issue. The shovel wasn't even making a dent in the ground. I was literally standing on top of my shovel bouncing up and down and all I was doing was just stayed there. Cars were driving by and I must have looked like a real life scarecrow with my whole body perched up on this shovel trying to make the earth move from under my feet!
At this point I surveyed my hole and deemed it ready! If this tree couldn't make it in this hole, I don't know what else to do. I got the tree ready to go and place it in the hole. Now all I had to do was fill it in, water and I would be done. I moved the wheel barrow closer to the hole so I could get the soil into the hole and began shoveling. This was taking way to long so I decided to be efficient and up end the wheel barrow into the hole. This is when I noticed my twig of a tree start to disappear. I dropped my wheel barrow and made a dash for the poor defenseless sapling of a tree. This lightening quick ninja-like reflex, which if were caught on camera would be more like a slow motion crawl, caused the wheel barrow to topple over on its side dumping what was left of its gold like quality soil all over the grass.
It was upon this last event that I took my rightful place of defeat on the grass next to the twig like tree shoveling in what little soil I could into the hole with my hands and the large shovel that I once bounced on. The earth had won this battle and I hung my head in defeat!
As I slowly gathered my wheel barrow, gloves and shovels, I stood back and looked at the tree that now leans a little to the right. I put my hands on my hips and decided that despite this little lean, I didn't do a half bad job. I was just about to beam with pride when I looked to my left and noticed the 3 areas still awaiting their new trees.
I decided right then and there that those trees might be the most expensive $1 trees ever bought as I hire some youth to come dig holes in my yard and plant them! :)
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