Gardening: My New Attempt at a Hobby

Well hello there!

Spurred on by my friend's blog about her new Australian life (http://australiaswine.blogspot.com/), I decided to give Merp a try again...again.  It seems vet school actually provided me with a lot of inspiration for blogging that I now lack.  Or else blogging provided me with a means to procrastinate in vet school.  Whichever.

So what can we expect from Merp these days?  No clue.  Probably few cartoons  because I'm finding humor hard to come by.  Most likely it will be a random assortment of topics at random intervals.  Although, I guess that's not all that different from what it's been in the past.

But before I bore you too much, today's topic is....Gardening!!!

That's right!  My new attempt at a hobby is gardening.  I don't know how long it will last seeing as how everything I've tried in the past has petered out at some point.  Soccer, softball, piano, flute, arts and crafts, cooking, exercise....you get the point.  I live on the third floor in an apartment building so my gardening space is my balcony.  Therefore, containers are my friends.  So far, I consider it a success.  Especially because I failed to keep a cactus alive once.

Since I didn't start writing about it in the spring, I'll give you some pictures to update you on what I consider some pretty significant gardening accomplishments this season.

I started out in the spring with various annuals in window boxes.  (There was one more but I can't get the picture loaded.)  They made it most of the summer but started dwindling in August.  I may or may not have neglected to water them for a few days...or a week.

I also started some plants from seed.  I was so proud to see my first blossoms!

This is a calendula or pot marigold.

And this is a gaillardia or blanket flower.  I particularly love this one.  It's so pretty and seems pretty bomb proof.

My blanket flower is still going strong even now into October.

My pot marigold, however, is looking pretty puny, so I won't share a picture.  I do think it would still be pretty healthy at this point if not for what I suspect is poor deadheading technique on my part.

So now that it's fall, I decided I'd like to try my hand at bulbs for spring.  I read you can do them in containers, but I think my challenge will be finding a cool enough place to overwinter them without them freezing.  I think I'll be shifting them to the barn on the family farm for winter, and hopefully I'll have some new shoots come springtime!  I already planted some tulips the other day, but I took some pictures of the pot I did today.

This container started with a layer of hyacinths...

followed by a layer of crocuses three inches more shallow.

It should be a pretty mix if they all survive and aren't overcrowded. :/

So now I have two tubs of dirt waiting for spring!!  And it'll only take 5-6 months to find out if it worked!  Get excited!

Oh, and I bought some mums too because everybody and their brother is selling them, and they're very pretty.

Well there you have it!  I hope my flowers have brought some cheer to your day.  I personally have found them to be an uplifting hobby and distraction from hard days in vet med.  I'll do my best not to leave you hanging for another year.

Here's a Halloween picture.

:)