Planting Flowers

One thing I've never done but always wanted to do was plant flowers. Seems like a typical housewife thing to me! Our deck needs a serious painting (we'll be getting to that later!) so I thought some flower pots might spruce up our front door quite nicely. I was, of course, completely clueless about doing this so my mother in law stepped in to help!

We bought some plants that would be easy to care for in our hot and sunny climate. It was actually very simple. Fill the pots with soil, soak the soil with water and begin! You just dig a small hole to fit the base of the plant and pack the dirt around them. I planted petunias, geraniums, daisies, and pansies and some pretty pot fillers (the names of which have slipped my rookie gardener mind!)

This was a very inexpensive project, which always makes me happy. The previous owners of our home had left flower pots in our shed. My sister in law just happened to have some extra soil and the plants cost me under $12 in total. I have three pots welcoming people on our front porch. I could have bought pots that were already filled with flowers for about $20 a pop. I don't think so! The little bit of work this took was worth it.

I think they turned out quite nicely and I'm very proud of myself! After about two days I called my mother in law with the extremely disappointing news that my flowers were dying. I supposed I just wasn't cut out to grow flowers. How sad. She quickly informed me that I had to perform a procedure called "deadheading" which basically means to pluck the little dead flower off of the plant. Sure enough, new ones started blooming the next day. I think I can handle this after all!

Bright and colorful flowers brighten up a home, even a home with a drab deck. That is my rookie homemakers tip today!