Green thumb of death???

When your dad can grow an avocado tree from a seed, does that skill set transfer to you??

My dad, born and raised in Hawaii, learned at a young age the importance of being able to plant, grow and harvest edible food. One would assume that his daughter would acquire this skill. NOPE!

I remember buying a beautiful ivy plant for my bedroom when I was in high school. I killed it. Josh bought me a cactus early in our relationship - it died. Then when we moved in together, he bought me a bamboo plant, it too sadly perished under my care.

So during SIP, we thought redoing our backyard would be a great way to start our vegetable and butterfly/hummingbird garden. I was happy to get rid of the rock and sand in our backyard and to have some beautiful flowers to look at instead of a drab fence. One thing that lurked in the back of my mind was "How the HECK am I going to keep these plants alive?"

The kitty litter box and palm trees/plants were happily removed!

Our friend helped us with the design and labor of creating our current backyard and he assured me that all would be well with proper irrigation. Okay.....

I had no problem shoveling yards upon yards of top soil and decomposed granite but I was definitely nervous about maintaining our gardens. Again, I was told it would be easy.

Demoing was fun especially when our friend was around to use cool tools and machinery. Mojo even helped with pulling massive tree roots.

Well, our friend finished and our yard was done and left us to maintain our new and improved backyard. I immediately felt like a first time mom driving home with our daughter in the car thinking "Oh s#*$! We have a child!" Alright, maybe not that extreme but we spent money on our plants and I was worried they would immediately perish under my care.

Since being stuck at home, I have a lot of time to check on the vegetable garden and our flower garden daily. Is checking 3-5 times a day excessive?? Yes, I go out there first thing in the morning, again around lunchtime, once again before dinner and again in the evening. When I have absolutely nothing going on during my day I will walk the yard again to pull weeds, count tomatoes, check the length of our pumpkin plants and stick my finger in the dirt to determine if our Japanese maple trees need more water.

I remember my dad telling to me talk to the plants when I was child. I also remember playing the piano for my mom's "prayer plant" - I have no idea what the actual name of the plant is called. Well, I can't drag my piano outside multiple times a day nor do I have endless conversations with each plant but I have found a lot peace in gardening as a 41 year old.

When we lived in Southern California, our house sat on a 10K square foot lot and our house was 1319 sq. ft. We were CLUELESS as to what to do with that much property so we did what a sensible homeowner would do - nothing! In our defense we did build a bada$# patio cover with insulation and fans that allowed us to host parties year round without worrying about the elements, as well several upgrades inside the home. I always felt intimidated with making a decision on the backyard because I worried about my ability to maintain it.

Fast-forward 8 years and here I am with another yard to maintain. With two kids who love butterflies and hummingbirds, I knew I wanted a garden that would attract both. That's how our backyard remodel started. I asked my husband to tear down the existing dog run and then told him I wanted a raised garden bed. Of course he was happy to oblige and called his friend who has experience with landscape design and installation.

Two months after our yard was completed, nothing, I repeat NOTHING has died!!! WE have had to replace parts of the drip irrigation and read more on the plants we chose but we have kept our vegetables and flowers alive.

I have used our chiles that we planted in our roasted corn recipe. Serafina has eaten our two grape tomatoes. I have managed to revive our almost on the brink of death cilantro plants! We have had to move things, change watering times, buy support for plants but we haven't killed anything!

Today, I had brunch with a friend/co-worker and she gave me a ton of her succulents after I showed her a picture of what I wanted in my yard. I thought we would go to the local nursery but her backyard is a place of what we can only aspire to have, so she began cutting and pulling succulents from her yard. Well, that meant after having brunch with her, I was dragging the husband and kids to the local nursery for planters. Serafina was quite excited by this and wanted to pick out succulents for her planter. Gideon - well, he could care less; he wanted to look at the massive garden gnomes and water fountains.

Once home, I went straight to the backyard and left Josh to handle dinner (delicious of course.) Serafina was more than happy to help once I killed the spiders that made a home on our last bag of soil. One of the most important things I have learned as a mother is giving up control of things I do not need to control. Today, that was placement of the plants in the planter. Serafina singlehandedly chose the placement of each plant in each planter - 5 total! They look amazing!!!

After 8 weeks of caring for our plants and flowers, grass and trees, we have managed to keep them alive and they are thriving. It may seem trivial but I have always considered myself a plant killer and worried about wrecking our yard. I think I may have turned a new leaf, no pun intended. I love our yard. I spend so much time out there since redoing it. I'm proud of the vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers it is producing. I love that butterflies and hummingbirds visit our raised bed as it was intended to do.

Do I have the green thumb of death? Maybe. Or maybe, with more life experience, I am confident that I can problem solve enough to prevent failing my gardens.