How it started
Age 12. Jack o' lantern pumpkin growing in my bedroom. Pea vine taped to the window for light. It made actual peas. I don't know why this wasn't a sign to everyone around me.
I built my first real garden in 2015, though I'd wanted one long before that. The rule has always been: if I buy something at the store with a seed in it, I'm going to try to grow it. This is how I ended up with a grapefruit tree from a seed I fished out of a grocery store grapefruit. It's still alive. It's enormous. I have no regrets.
Current roster includes: dragon fruit, papaya, apples, St. John's wort, prickly pear, San Pedro cactus, a peach tree, two grafted apple trees, passiflora incarnata, American wisteria, celosia, marigolds, lavender, and an amount of herbs that I'm not going to list because it will sound unhinged. (Five kinds of sage. At least three kinds of thyme. More basil varieties than I can name with confidence.)
I'm also teaching myself bonsai, which is either the most meditative thing I've ever done or a slow-motion disaster. Unclear yet.
I am not a noob. I am, however, a person who occasionally forgets where she put something. If something died, that's probably why. Not neglect. Misplacement. There's a difference.
grow log
Overwatered. Apparently that's a thing. Apparently I do that.
Named him. He survived. Correlation unclear.
Doing suspiciously well. I'm nervous.
Thriving. Prolific. I have more serranos than I know what to do with.
Slow start. Then suddenly: strawberries everywhere.
I did not fully think this through. It got very large very fast and then something ate it.
Produced approximately 400 tomatoes in August. I gave them to everyone I know. People started avoiding me.
I didn't plant it but I'm keeping it.
Still going. Getting competitive about it.
currently growing
status: thriving
Grapefruit
From a grocery store seed. It's enormous now. I have no regrets.
status: alive
Dragon fruit, papaya, apples
Yes, all of these. Yes, indoors in some cases. Yes, I know.
status: thriving
Herbs (the full chaos)
Five kinds of sage. Three kinds of thyme. More basil than I can name. Savory. All of it.
status: alive
Bonsai (in progress)
Teaching myself. It's either meditative or a slow disaster. TBD.
status: thriving
Passiflora incarnata
American passionflower. It's a vine. It's doing what vines do.
status: thriving
Prickly pear & San Pedro cactus
Low maintenance. High drama. Perfect.
This is not a gardening guide. I am not a gardening expert. I am a person who has been putting things in dirt since age 12 and takes it personally when they disappear.
Log updated as things happen. Or as I remember to update it.