Hello I am your Grow Your Own - Organic Gardening Advice Moderator

[queenofthehivemomof5]

Hi there!

I have signed up to volunteer to be your Organic Gardening mod.

A little about me and my gardening experience...

I have a green thumb and hardly ever kill a plant. LOL

I have always grown something no matter when I have lived.

I have this uncanny knack for somehow knowing the Latin names of plants, it irritates the daylights out of my family but I read a lot and books and magazines usually list the Latin names of plants and for some reason this information just sticks in my brain. So yes I know what agapanthus purpea is and that it does not grow in Wyoming.

I hail originally from Southern California where as a child we always had a vegetable garden as well as myriad fruit trees (oranges, lemons, nectarines, avocados, plums, etc) as well as neighbors with almonds, pecans, limes, grapefruit, pomegranates, etc. At my first house as an adult I grew a nice little veggie garden and did my first compost bin. It was great fun. I learned the lesson not to put squash seeds in your compost bin as I soon began growing a prolific crop of zucchini in my bin!

We then moved to a rental with lovely orange trees and we grew a small little strip of land with a few tomatoes and herbs since we were not allowed to tear up the ground we instead planted veggies in the established flower beds.

I then moved to another rental that needed desperate work on the yard. At the time my husband was stationed in Korea and I was left with 2 little girls. I focused my gardening energy on establishing a lawn and front flowerbeds. I rototilled that backyard 2 times and planted grass seed twice before I could get a lawn growing. There were so many "goat-head" weeds back there that I struggled so badly to get that grass to grow without resorting to using weed killer! I never did have the time to grow a veggie garden. But my front flower beds we beautiful and the neighbors told me that the yard looked the best as it ever had. I was so proud!

We then moved to VA, my first move from CA and we were in an apartment. I did not garden much in that apartment just growing a few houseplants and some herbs on the balcony. About a year and half later we moved on base and I was pregnant with child number 3. We had a very small 4ft x 8ft garden bed and we intensely planted that with some veggies and herbs.

We then moved here to Wyoming, and I immediately dug up a big flower bed in the front yard and proceeded to plant annuals, perennials, bulbs, and roses the first year. Our second year we planted a crab apple tree in the back yard with a kidney shaped flower bed around it. The third year here my DH bought me a wine barrel and herb plants and made me stepping stones with the kids' hand prints and footprints in them and so began my herb garden in a barrel. This year will be our 4th year in Wyoming and I am planning on a big veggie garden.

So I have experience growing flowers, herbs, veggies, and some fruits although everyday is a learning experience and I always have gobs to learn. I also am an experienced composter and have done both conventional compost heaps as well as vermicomposting (with worms). And for whatever reason I have always gardened pretty much organically except for the one year I used snail/slug poison to keep them from devouring my garden (I was not aware of organic methods at the time, I now use yeast/beer traps)

So I will be putting together some informational threads over time and would love to have member input. And if you are thinking about growing your own I want you to start a thread and talk about your adventures in gardening!

As someone that lives in an area where "buying locally" is not really an option I think growing it myself might be a viable and fun experience!

[bexx09]

Well, I for one am glad that we have someone with your green thumb-ability as mod for this forum. I am a total black thumb, so I'm really looking forward to getting some good tips.

Welcome!

[austinmomto2]

Woohoo! Glad we have a green thumb mod! I think I might have a brown thumb. With the central TX heat, weird bugs, and horrible soil-think limestone, I have had a hard time doing any gardening. we seriously have maybe an inch of dirt and then you hit solid limestone!

I really want to compost and I have a bag of coffee grounds, veggie and fruit scraps that I just don't feel right to put in the trash. But we have to make the time to build a traditional compost with a barrier or else my bottomless pit of a dog will eat all up. My friend has made compost area in her yard so I am going to see if she wants my scraps for the time being.

I also want to do some nice landscaping either in the front or back. I am severely allergic to any type of bee, wasp, hornet, yellow jacket etc so I can't really have anything that has a scent like blooming flowers. We have quite a few shrubs that don't bloom but we do have Ligustrums by our shed. I can't get anywhere near there during the Summer when the hornets are near.

Any suggestions on starting a compost as well as good plants and shrubs for my yard?

[kristen.c]

I'll add in my excitement also for a green-thumbed mod here too! I don't have much of a green thumb at all. I've managed to keep my houseplant alive for almost a year now so I'm hoping that I'm getting better.

I can't wait to learn more and figure out what I'm doing wrong! I loved your story about moving and all the different gardening projects you've done!

[jujubee]

Yay! If you can teach me how to grow something, you'll definitely be the queen of the garden! :D

[jonjaktez]

Well Heidi you will be turning my brown thumb into green, I hope.

[Earthartisan]

Awesome, I should send you my 4 plants that I left outside overnight and now they are so dead. I a sad, but keep thinking they will put through. Two of them have lost all their branches and leaves... So yes I have sticks in a pot.