My friends and family know that gardening is not my thing.  My Mom always wonders why and what she did wrong to have a daughter like this since she really enjoys it, but I just didn’t get the “gardening gene” (and probably the “housekeeping gene” and “cooking gene” are missing too).  Believe me, I love seeing beautiful gardens and appreciate how much hard work goes into maintaining a well manicured lawn, bushes and flowers but I missed the boat to Better Homes & Gardens!


Last week, I had a wakeup call.  One of my good friends, who just happens to own a landscaping company (Lichtenberg Landscaping) stopped by.  She walked up and exclaimed, “Girl, you have a beautiful tree but you can’t even see your house”.  We have a Flowering Plum tree that we planted 13 years ago and it really is gorgeous, and it has grown extremely well.  In fact, it has grown so well that some of the branches were starting to touch the ground and I don’t think it’s part of the Weeping Willow family.  So, the next day I decided I would prune, cut and shape that tree.  I think I did a pretty good job.  Normally, my Dad has been our resident tree trimmer but he recently had surgery so I felt like I should give him a break. So, the tree got trimmed, my arms ached a bit – you can really use some muscles you’ve never used before and then I got on a roll and actually trimmed our bushes and I even planted some flowers.  Amazingly, the Goecke house got spruced up.  I knew I was on the right track when my neighbor came out and happily exclaimed, “You’re finally trimming your tree”.  Uh-oh maybe we needed that kick in the butt a little sooner than later.  At least now, we are more aware.  Don’t worry, we are going to get to those side bushes soon – it’s all about baby steps. 


Now, even though I had that little spurt of gardening bliss, it’s still not my favorite thing to do but my Dad really wanted to get my girls involved with planting some plants and flowers so he decided to make them a “Garden in a box”.  He constructed a 5’x3’ planter box with an open bottom that he then sealed.  He delivered it along with 6 huge bags of soil.  The girls had some friends over that day and everyone had a great time dumping all that dirt into the box.  The next day I took my girls to get some herbs, plants and flowers at Lichtenberg Gardens and they had lots of fun making their selections.  We ended up with two watermelon plants so I’m not sure how they’re going to fair in the “box”. But, we now have some edible herbs, tomato and pepper plants on their way to maturity.  My girls got to experience gardening and now they can care for it and watch it grow.  I think it’s a win-win for everyone. 


If you have any interest in getting a “Garden in a Box”, please let me know.  My Dad is now retired and he needs some projects to work on.