Is the black thumb gone?

My husband takes great pleasure in teasing me about my Black Thumb Disease. I have had it for years and have killed many a poor defenseless potted plant in my day. But I seem to have found redemption. I've planted a garden. No joke.

D and I have been in our new place for about two months now and it happens to have a community garden. Because our landlords are that awesome. My first attempt at planting was a bit challenging, but I overcame as all good mothers do. Baby on hip. Check. Hands left to plant with. One. Shut up, I am NOT a redneck. Anyway, the most important part is that I managed to plant mini pumpkins, peas, green onions, and cherry tomatoes; which are ALL growing!

My next excursion included my friend LiLi and a shovel (no baby this time). After digging up several large chunks of volcanic rock we managed to plant more peas and some mint. The peas are sprouting nicely but I've only found one mint sprout so far. No, I am not impatient and four days should be plenty of time to see results.

My third foray into horticulture included building and planting a flower bed along our front walk way. Because I rock the volcanic rock! ...and yes, our landlord are really that awesome. During this time I found out that a garden hoe and shovel seem to be much more effective than a kitchen spoon. Hey, I work with what I've got. LiLi, D and I finished this one in one afternoon because my enthusiasm is contagious and they may have realized it would have taken me an entire week to do it on my own. We planted lavender, cosmos, bachelor buttons, rock soapwort and johnny jump-ups. I haven't seen any spouts in the two days since we did it but I've got high hopes of seeing something soon.

Oh, and I also planted a few remaining mint seeds in a pot just to see if the black thumb was really gone. Again, nothing yet.

Then we planted some chives and cantaloupe down in the community garden. D did most of the hoe work on that one. I think I've infected him with my new disease. No sprouts there yet either. That wasn't yesterday was it? No...that was Sunday...I think. Maybe I should give that one another couple days. I'll check it again tomorrow, just to make sure.

My next plans include a sunflower mix but I can't decide whether to plant them down in the community garden or up by the house. I'm thinking of extending the flower garden along the side of the house and a row of bright sunflowers would be awfully cute. I would love to do roses but the selection is abysmal out here in Hawaii. Isn't that just a fun word? Maybe LiLi, TweeterPea and I will have to take a trip up to Waimea on Saturday while D goes golfing down at the Four Seasons. It's only about a 45 minute drive, and SO beautiful up there. That's only...gulp...four days away. I can totally wait that long. LiLi and I also started painting a couple garden decorations last night, that should keep us busy for awhile. Right? Maybe I'll take pictures of the garden tomorrow and post them so you guys can all (snort! ALL. Ha!) see the before shots. Well, kinda before anyway.