My garden is ready for a long, hot Georgia summer. A ton of rain helped. We’re six inches above normal for this time of year — most of that coming in May. Getting all the new arrivals into the ground early helped too.

I’ve gardened for more than thirty years. Space constraints limited options with my first two, leading me to buy a house with a ginormous yard for #3. Over the next ten years, I accumulated more than 600 varieties of ornamental plants. Taking care of the sprawling landscape and spacious house by myself was too much, so in 2012 I downsized.

The first year or two, I didn’t do much in the yard beyond mowing. Not having to spend hours and hours in the garden was a nice change. Most of what I’ve done since then was more about making mowing easier than anything else.

 

I have only so much room, but have lots and lots of favorite plants. Most are rare and exotic to me because they won’t grow in Kentucky. Until I’m ready to commit to a chosen few, I’m sticking to annuals.

Tomatoes are essential. Having more bad years than good doesn’t keep me from trying. Even one homegrown tomato is worth the effort, and unlike an abundance of zucchini, a bountiful crop of tomatoes never goes to waste. I’ve got a couple of pepper plants too, and a bunch of lettuce the heat has rendered too bitter to eat.

There is no plan. The flowers in my garden were impulse purchases based on whatever happened to be available at Lowe’s. I don’t worry about colors clashing or somehow not going together. At the end of the day, it’s still beautiful.

Stay tuned for progress reports. Thanks for stopping by!