Farmer Jo

Did I ever mention that I hate bugs? Well I do and all the gardening and weeding I've been doing lately has shown me that we seem to have an over-abundance of ants and spiders around our home. And not just any spiders, but large, gross looking, wolf spiders carrying egg sacks on their backs. And have you ever seen a grub? *shiver* They look like little albino aliens. Check these babies pests out:














Some people enjoy gardening and find it relaxing. I hate it and find it stressful. There are bugs everywhere, so much that I wear sneakers for fear of something crawling on my feet. The same reason I wear gardening gloves. Anytime I see anything move or a tickle on me, I automatically assume it is a creepy crawler. Just sitting here writing about it I feel all itchy. So I spend the entire time paranoid about something crawling on me. I'll admit, I also have no idea what I'm doing. Many times I can't tell if something (beyond the basics) is a weed or plant and have to call my mom to come over and tell me. What a disappointment to her AND my MIL who both have green thumbs. Me-I have a hard time not killing houseplants.

But despite all these hang-ups, for some reason (I am not sure if it's finally feeling settled into our home or maybe having a kid has changed something in me) I decided to have a garden this year. So in our backyard we planted a patio tomato plant (which already has big, green, tomatoes growing on it). And some pumpkins. Oh and some green peppers, cucumbers, squash. Did I mention sugar baby watermelons? Well, those too. That's it-just a few things. Oh, and I forgot to mention the cherry tomato potted plant my mom & dad gave me for mother's day. We've already been enjoying the fruit from it.

Anyway, I look at this experience as an experiment. The plants weren't very expensive and so if we get nothing, it's no great loss (except for all the time and energy planting, weeding, and watering). However *knock on wood* so far it's going very well. I predict the pumpkins, squash, and melons won't have enough space and will become a tangled mess but I also think we'll get some vegetables too. We'll see, maybe I have a little green after all.