Good afternoon, readers! I hope you are well, all 12 of you!

I kid. I totally get random bots here all the time.

Same Old, Same Old

I do apologize for the lack of posts, specifically meal planning. Last week was primarily leftovers and whatever sounded good, this week has been super wacky. Seriously, dinner Monday consisted of leftovers again, tuesday I had a peanut butter sandwich and a banana, and last night I had a fresco taco from taco bell, followed by a handful of cheese puffs when I got home. I swear I’m making real food tonight, I have ground beef defrosting in the fridge. Just don’t ask me what it will be, I have no idea.

I have not had idle hands, however. I made a stuffed acorn squash recipe found in Clean Eating Magazine (submitted by Guy Fieri, for those of you that are lucky enough to have Food Network), and I plan to get that up here shortly. The husband and I made Ben and Jerry’s Orange Dream Cream ice cream in the ice cream maker last week, and let me tell you, it was heaven. I have kept up on the organized freezer as well, which has been so very helpful to my sanity.

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Something New and Different

I have in the past said I have a black thumb. There is a plant on my desk at work I have managed to keep alive for 8 months, which is only because it requires nothing but water and mostly shade. I can totally do that. This year, I have decided to conquer my fear of Growing Things and decided to embark upon gardening. That’s right, you read it here. Growing stuff in the ground.

Except, I live in a condo, and I can’t grow things in the ground.

This suits me just fine, because I love the idea of container gardening. I find that it has all of the advantages one needs to break into home-farming:

1) I don’t have to deal with whatever soil is in my area, which I hear is super dense anyway.
2) Zero worm encounters.
3) I can make most things work well in a container and in my space, with the added bonus of making it kinda pretty
4) I can move my entire project into the garage if the sun (or wasps) are too intimidating

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My inspiration came from my friend Sheryl, who started her garden last weekend. She made growing things up out of the ground and then eating them to be like magic. And magical things are very enticing to me. This may come as a disappointment to my best friend, who has been growing a garden for endless years, never inspiring me to join her. I guess I was intimidated by her gardening skills. The good news is that she has become a nearly invaluable counselor. Thanks BFF!

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This post could grow very long, so I have decided to break this up into a series of posts, so I can share what I have learned and maybe inspire one of you to pick up a hand trowel.

Yes, I thought it was called a shovel too. Oh the things we can learn together!

How to Grow a Container Garden – The Miniseries

1) Research and Decision Making, aka bugging your friends for more information
2) The Shopping List
3) Getting Started, alternatively titled Garage Gardening

Should my garden grow, there will be more posts. If it does not grow, I will post an epic failure and give away all of my gardening supplies.

Unless you want some killer window boxes, your positive thoughts are appreciated.