How Does Your Garden Grow

posted by Momo Fali on April 15, 2010

We have great neighbors. Really, I just love them. One of them is my boss. I love her the most. What? I can be shameless if I want to.

The neighbors immediately to our east are wonderful too. They take great care of us. And by take care of us, I mean bring us cupcakes and cookies and homemade jelly.

Not to mention that they have one of the most beautiful yards on the street. Just last night I opened a window and a lovely floral aroma wafted into my kitchen. No air freshener necessary!

But, the best thing is that there is no competition between us. I mean no competition. At all. As in, none. Here is proof of that…

These are their hostas.

These are mine. See those little green stubs? But, look! Mulch!

This is their pretty, potted plant.


These are mine. Oh, okay! These are last year’s potted plants which are still sitting on my patio.

These are their ferns.


These are my ferns which they gave me after dividing some of theirs a few years ago. Oh, the shame.


This is just one of their flower beds.


And, this is one of mine. At least my dogs have already started digging holes for me. Head start bonus!


This is their well-tilled garden plot from which they will gather vegetables later this year.


And this? Is where I will gather mine.

    Comments

  • Melisa with one S


    That is HILARIOUS.

    I gather my vegetables from the same type of place you do! Imagine that!

  • WebSavvyMom


    –>Hilarious! We're the "damn kids" in our neighborhood but some of the old farts do compliment us on our gardens so we give them vegetables. ha!

  • Middle Aged Woman


    ALL the stuff in my yard is from splits from friends and neighbors. It's the friendly thing to do!

  • Jodi


    I leave the gardening to my neighbor as well. LOL! I have such a black thumb, I've been known to kill ivy….IVY!

    Great post Momo!

  • UP


    Some years I garden a great deal, this is one of them…sometimes, I'm a tad neglectful, so I have both sets of pictures…this year's gonna' be a good year…but I'm still gonna' get my veggies at Kroger!

    UP
    (see Organic Voodoo for my garden @rednecklatt.com)

  • Jen


    oh how I love you, momo.

    I feel more at ease in my hillbilly skin after reading this.

    Was that your goal?

    even if not…thank you.

  • C (Kid Things)


    That very last picture there, that's my kind of gardening.

  • Colleen - Mommy Always Wins


    Heh…you garden like I do! Sad thing is, at our new house, the previous owners left some well-designed flower/plant beds. Some of the stuff is coming back this spring, some of it is not. And I'm less than lost as to what to do with it all. My goal? Buying some pretty something to go in this planter thing they left. That's it. The end. 🙂

  • WeaselMomma


    Yeee- haaaa! For non judgmental neighbors.

  • Sadia


    I live next-door to the president of the local gardening club. He helped plan and plant our favourite park. This morning Jessica said to me, "Mama, I'm so proud of you! Our flowers are still alive!" We received potted flowers as party favours last Saturday. They are, in fact, still alive. This is a personal best.

    I hear ya.

  • Jaina


    Love it Momo. We're trying our hand at a vegetable garden. We'll see how it turns out. I'll have to get pictures up soon. I have pics from the day we planted…I'll have to wait a bit and do before and after (or in the middle)

  • anya


    I heart you.

  • Aunt Juicebox


    Every spring my daughter and I plant a ton of herbs and stuff on the patio. We tend to them carefully for a few weeks, and then we get bored. We almost never end up using any of the herbs that manage to grow.

  • kg


    That last shot actually made me laugh out loud.

  • Out-Numbered


    You need to trim your bush. Wuh? Carry on…

  • Heather


    HOLY CRAP! Your neighbors better be worried! You are about to kick their ass with all your gorgeous yard stuff. HAH!

  • DysFUNctional Mom


    That flower garden is not even normal. They must have too much time on their hands.
    You should be my neighbor. You'd feel GREAT about yourself.

  • Ann Flower


    Nice blog. You seems to be an ardent lover of garden art. You have a nice garden. It was nice going through your blog.

  • Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]


    You and I have the same black thumb.

    And nice spam, comment above me.

  • AlisonH


    Oh, that's so funny! I have a friend like your neighbors–and she decided at one point to teach a whole bunch (heh) of us how to do intricate flower arranging, with gobs of flowers all of course carefully picked from her large landscaped yard. (She gardens like I knit.)

    So. I in the corner try, I give it my best, I look at it wryly and try. Really, I try.

    And then a little while later she comes over, looks at my Charlie Brown arrangement, and in too-cheerful enthusiasm says spritely, OKAY! Let's get you *started*!!

    I look her in the eye and say, Dig a little deeper, MJ.

    Oh.

    Oops.

  • ZDub


    Your neighbors make me feel bad about myself, but I have an excuse for my lack of flowing greenery-I live in CO, nothing grows where I live except for effing pine trees. And I have plenty of those.

  • Jason @ The Devoted Dad


    We must live under the same roof because I am in the same boat- right down to last years potted plants, urgh, potted dead and gone plants on the patio. Good luch getting it started!

  • Debbie


    My yard looks so much like yours! I am always ashamed. But, not enough to do anything about it:)

  • rockle


    your neighbors sound like my mom. just about all the plants in my yard that are still alive, except for the Hostas That Eat Cleveland? they all came from my mother's garden, and she painstakingly transplanted them into my beds. she even brought some of her dirt to "nutrify" my crap-ass clay soil. my lilac bush is a rescue from another neighbor's yard, that my mother tended back to health. she took a clipping from that lilac bush, gave it root, and it is now gorgeous and 8' high in her backyard, making the entire block smell delicious.

    the stuff i plant? commits suicide.

  • meleah rebeccah


    you absolutely crack me up! I leave the gardening to my MOM. Ive killed a cactus and figure I shouldn't go anywhere near vegetation!

  • Davina


    HEY NOW….Something must be said the frozen stuff. Think about all the hassle it is to have a real garden. You have to plow, sow, harvest, clean, then cut and prepare. Just think of how simple you just made your life. Besides, if everyone had their own garden then how would the farmers make their living!