My Green Ambitions

A while ago, I posted about how I thought I'd killed my rose bush when I moved it from its previous location into a large plastic container. We're planning to overhaul the area where the rose was previously growing, and I wanted to move it before we reached the true dog days of summer. Of course, when I did that all the leaves and rose buds withered and eventually died. I was sure there was no hope for the rose. But I kept dutifully watering it, and my sister-in-law (who is no slouch in the gardening department) gave me a few tips. She suggested I actually strip all the dead and dying leaves off the plant. I thought this was a bad idea, but I knew that I was a novice when it came to growing roses. So I trusted her advice. The bare rose looked pretty sad. Here's a photo I took today:I took the photo to show how sad it was without leaves. But, much to my surprise - there's new growth! It's coming back!! I'm so excited! I didn't kill it after all!
And, even more exciting - there are actual tomatoes on my tomato plants! They're very small, and very green. But they're real tomatoes! I've grown something! Success!! Here's s photo of my one, single cherry tomato:Here is a photo of my unlabeled tomato plant. I have no idea what kind it is - just that it's the tallest one of the bunch. And there are a ton of wee tomatoes on it. So exciting!!I've been thinking a lot lately about how I put off planting anything this season because I wanted to spend some more time getting the garden ready. I think I missed an opportunity. I could have easily grown a single zucchini plant in a container. One zucchini plant would grow plenty for our family (since I'm the only one who's really crazy about them...everyone else just sort of tolerates them when I add them to dishes). I could have tried cucumbers, onions, beans, herbs...I really should have done more with containers! So, this winter - whether I have a proper gardening area or not, I'm planting some stuff. This is my resolve!