quite contrary

I do not consider myself to have a green thumb.  It's actually more like a peachish-tan.

But I do enjoy gardening.  My mom always had a garden and taught me how to have one of my very own.  Here are two of my favorite tips when planting tomatoes:

1 - Plant your tomatoes sideways.

Why? 

Honestly, I have no idea, but I've just always done it that way and it's worked for me.  I even plant part of the stem.  It seems I may remember something about the stems being able to grow roots?  Maybe some of you know why.  I suppose I could google it, but I'm much too tired to care right now.

2 - DON'T water your tomatoes!

Seriously.  I rarely water them.  The only times I water them are right after they're planted and then if we go a week without rain.  (Remember - I live in IOWA where we tend to have a lot of thunderstorms in the summer.  If you live elsewhere, you may need to water them more frequently.)  This may sound crazy, but my tomatoes have always done just fine!  Especially considering that our garden is full of clay and not that good, rich Iowa soil.  (When they built our neighborhood they dug down about 10 feet for some reason, therefore leaving us with virtually no topsoil.)  Once you start to water your tomatoes, you will have to keep doing it because they become dependent on it.  They're like little crack-addicts.  If you leave them alone, the roots have to go grow deeper to find water, therefore making a sturdier plant.  You may totally disagree with this, but I'm just saying - it works for me.

You can see from this picture that I also don't use topsoil or compost or potting soil, or whatever is normally used.  I know, I know... I'm sure they'd probably do better with something like that, but I've just always done it this way.  It's much easier and again - it's always worked for me!  I prefer to take the cheap easy way I guess.  But hey, if it works, then why not?  :)

This year I also decided to do my very first herb garden...

... complete with parsley, basil, oregano and dill.

My only question for you is this... I filled in this planter box with potting soil because it's what I had in the shed.  Then after planting them I started thinking maybe I'm not supposed to use potting soil with herbs since we'll eat them.  Does anyone know?  Should I replant them in some other kind of soil or are they okay?

And lastly, my daughters (who have a love for anything beautiful) wanted to plant their very own flower garden this year.  So I took them to Menards and let them pick out a variety of annuals.  I had to dig the holes (remember - I'm digging in clay here...) but the girls told me where to dig, put the flowers in the holes and then filled the holes with water.  All. by. themselves.  :)

I realize it looks a little sparse, but we're hoping they will spread.  Plus, I didn't realize just how big this area was until we started planting.  We may just have to go buy some more to fill in all the empty spaces!

Do you mind if I completely switch topics here?

No?  Thanks.

Tate turned 9 months this week!

And he crawled for the first time on his 9 month birthday!  He's been rolling around like a tumbleweed for months, but couldn't quite figure out the whole crawling ordeal, and didn't really seem to care since he could roll.  But now he's into everything and starting to pull himself up too.  Yikes!

*Warning - I'm switching gears again here*

This week I have been hugging and kissing my babies more than usual.  Some friends of ours had to say good-bye to their 7-month old baby boy this week.  I just can't even come close to imagining what that would  be like.  So tragic.  So sad.  But they know that Malachi is now in heaven and finally whole and comfortable - free of tubes and needles and medication.  And what's even better is that they know that they will be reunited with him one day.  Please read about Malachi's story here and follow up with the family here.  

And join us in praying for them.