I Created a Monster. Perhaps Two.

So... remember the beer garden?  The cute Valentine's Day idea I had for Eric, since he loves beer so much, and I thought it'd be fun for him to have a wheat/barley/hops garden, even though he'd never really have enough from it to use in beer?  This one.

Well, it turns out Eric loves growing things.  In fact, (and this I knew before) he went to one of those specialized NYC high schools and this one had an agricultural program, so he'd been pretty good at growing things.  A good foil for my brown, thumb, really.

(And I do mean brown thumb.  I can kill cacti.  I have killed 'em... as well as orchids, Bonsai trees, California jades, and an aloe plant.)

Anyway, Eric also had a veggie garden in his yard as a kid, and he loved taking care of it.  I had no idea how much.

So... this little bitty beer garden, a fun gifty item I got him, led to this:

Yup, veggies in a seed starter.  Now, I'm not going to lie and say I don't like fresh veggies.  I love 'em.  And I'm kind of excited at the prospect.  But the seed starter led to bigger containers, of course.

And bigger.

So now, we've got this happening...

(Yes, that's still the beer garden you see in these photos.  The wheat and barley are still going strong, after a short haircut from the cats before it was moved outside.  Still no hops, but hops are tough, so we're not worrying about them.)

We've got veggies and herbs out there all over our big deck which suddenly doesn't seem so big anymore.  We've got another seed starter with herbs in it, and chamomile, which I'm really exited about because you might notice I really like tea.

And then I got in on the act too.  Flowers!  I wanted flowers.  So we got another seed starter, and I planted flower seeds yesterday.  No little compartments for me, just a sea of soil.  I want a wildflower kind of look happening; I much prefer that to the manicured, orderly gardens that make sense when it comes to veggies.  I did basically plant taller stuff to the "back" of the plot and shorter stuff to the front for better visibility.  I didn't bother with photos, since right now it's just a bunch of dirt and you can't see anything interesting, but I've got sunflowers, lobelia, Johnny jump ups, morning glories, alyssums in white and purple, a maravilla tea time mix, snapdragons, primroses, Canterbury bells, hollyhocks, scabiosa, sweet peas, and lavender.

We didn't buy the lavender; I had the seeds already.  See, two years ago, the wedding shower my sister and bridesmaids threw me was a garden party theme.

See those centerpieces?  That green watering can in the foreground is the watering can we're now using for our plants.  And those little boxes at each place setting?  Those favors were lavender startup kits.  Each one has a tiny terra cotta pot, a soil disk, and lavender seeds.  So it was one of those lavender packets, from leftover favors, that I used in my garden mix.

Once this one is ready to plant outside, I'll do it again, and plant some more!

So... yeah... I created a monster (Eric).  But I think I might become one too!  And hopefully Eric can help counter that brown thumb of mine.