Despite being someone who screams in the presence of bugs (I’m working on that, I swear), something about nature still calls to me. I love gardens, brooks and streams; love walks in the woods and the quiet, the calm.
When I’m wandering a stone path, I can’t help but pretend I’m Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden — searching, restored and healed by nature. I fell in love with Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic as a kid and loved the 1993 film just as much.
Though I have no idea how to go about it, I’m looking forward to planting our new yard. We have a flower box already with green shoots pushing upward; I have no clue what they are, but they look like bulbs. Potential flowers, hopefully. And the front yard? Around the stone path leading to the front door, the remnants of old beds still shift hopefully. Things are growing. Life is still forming.
I’ve never gardened. I shouldn’t feel so clueless and awkward asking for help, but I always do. And when a friend visited the new house last weekend, she immediately reached down to carefully pluck a spring of poison ivy from near the garage.
Poison ivy. Be still my terrified heart!
It’s fun to imagine learning, though. Though we’re more concerned with what’s happening in the house than out (short of cutting that grass) for a while, I’ve always wanted to cultivate a green thumb. I’d love to have an herb garden and window box filled with happy flowers. I’d love to see pops of color whenever we open our door.
Since we have to start where we are, I have to admit to knowing nothing about creating my own secret garden . . . beyond the fact that I’d like to. Eventually.
It’s exciting: the not-knowing. There’s excitement trusting I’ll learn.
write meg! 
How exciting! For the first year you will continue to receive surprises, so it’s good to take things slowly. Gradually see what is actually there! What a beautiful photo, I hope it’s in your garden!! One day you’ll have your own secret garden. I often think of that story in my own garden.
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Gardening is such a rewarding experience! 🙂 Definitely a great thing to take up.
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This post really makes me want to go outside! (By the way, I totally sympathize with the struggle of loving nature and also hating insects. It’s rough. sigh.)
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A year and a half later, I’m still figuring out how gardens work. I love the look of a beautiful garden but don’t have a single green thumb to help in the process. I hope you have much better luck than I did.
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I totally understand. I weeded yesterday and the whole time I was hoping I wasn’t pulling any flowers. It’s interesting to see what comes up. Good luck with both the inside and outside!
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When I bought my house a friend gazed across the yard and said, it will take at least five years to get this the way you want it, and she was right. And 20 years later I’m still changing things around. You’ll learn as you go and I’m sure you will do fine.
A quick way to get started and have a few things growing your first year is to use large barrels like whiskey or wine barrels. You can fill them with good soil, plant herbs or blooming flowers, and because they are raised off the ground, bunnies and other critters won’t eat them.
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I’ve just got an allotment, and know nothing about gardening! Learning about plants and soil is going to be so lush, I’m excited! 🙂 We’ve all got to start somewhere, and there’s a proper thrill in getting to grips with something new. Good luck.
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When a plant you love doesn’t survive, consider it an opportunity to experience something new.
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I’m in the middle of dreaming up planting a beautiful garden too! I love all things green and growing. Can’t wait to see your progress!
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This is great! I’m at the same place: I love being outside and just recently realized that I want to learn how to garden, because I love flowers. But I also know next to nothing about gardening…yet!
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I like food gardening best. Grew some lovely tomatoes last year…but there were approximately 14,001 ants in the greenhouse 😦 and I’m a bit squeamish about ants, so…
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Reblogged this on MARSocial Author Business Enhancement Interviews.
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So excited to see what you decide to do for a garden 🙂 I am not a big fan of bugs and I’m deathly afraid of worms, but so far – I’m learning to deal with it. It’s easier to turn a blind eye to the gross parts of gardening when you have beautiful flowers, herbs, or food blooming!
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I really like the way you organized and wrote this. Good job.
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I’m with you. I adore a good garden/yard. In fact, our yard totally sold us on our house. It’s so fun being back there. I’ve never liked gardening before and now I’m getting SO into it.
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The gorgeous front and back yards were huge selling points to me when we were house hunting. I learned very quickly that all the plants and flowers I fell in love with actually required some kind of maintenance to keep them under control… and that meant gardening and being around all kind of bugs and, worst of all, worms. We have actually ripped out a ton of plants because they attract spiders, and we’re slowly getting the yard to a point where it looks nice and we can handle it. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
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I am in the same place! I ran in and stripped the other day because I was convinced I may have red bugs or ants or something on me! But the flowers are so pretty!
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