A Therapeutic Day of Planting

I've been feeling my thumb turning green lately and wanting to plant some flowers. I would love to say that I am a natural gardener, but I'm not. Nor is Dave. We're members of the Arbor Day Foundation, getting free tree saplings each year that we plant, and we have several plants that we have rescued and have maintained for years. We always mean well, but sometimes plants don't make it in our household, thanks to forgetfulness, our cat, or just mother nature herself. I was really wanting to plant some flowers this spring so Arden and I headed to Home Depot with a mission. Originally, I wanted to do the front bed and all the back porch pots, but finances and reality made me scale back my mission. I went to get hanging plants for the front and back, and whatever struck my fancy for all the pots on the back porch.

Taking a baby by yourself in a shopping cart to Home Depot in the garden section proved to be entertaining in itself. Arden was in a great mood, talking to strangers and smiling and laughing at me and anyone that even glanced at her. She "helped" me pick out several trays of flowers as I pretended that we were having a conversation back and forth about the selection (I do this often, I think just to make myself feel better that I'm not talking to myself.) After 4 small pots, 4 hanging plants, 3 trays of flowers, and 3 bags of potting soil- all of which had to strategically placed in the cart to avoid Arden pulling the petals off, we were ready to get our hands dirty!

While Arden was down for a nap, I cranked up the iPod and successfully planted 2 planter boxes, 3 large pots, and 4 little ones, and hung the hanging plants. Once she woke up, I put her in the Pack & Play with me on the deck while she talked to the trees and I watered everything. It was a great afternoon and put us both in a great mood!