What's next?

I'm hoping that this blog will help me keep track of the before, the after, and the in-between of my new garden.

This will be a place to:
 - Develop the garden plan
 - Identify current plants
 - Keep track of plant purchases
 - Spotlight individual plants with photos and general information
 - Document garden-related projects and mistakes
 - Post reviews for garden sales, centers, and resources in the Chesapeake bay area

As a bulleted list, this sounds very straight-forward.  And a little boring. 

- - - -

Yesterday, before I left for work in the morning, I saw a single mayapple  in one of the beds I want to eventually get rid of.  This is a plant I do not know.  I know what it looks like and I know what facts are listed about it in wikipedia, but I've never owned one before.  I haven't watched one from spring to fall, from start to finish.  I've never divided one or grown it from seed.  I do not know the absolute best spot for it in my yard, but these are the things I hope to learn.

During my lunch break, I read up on mayapples and other spring ephemerals.  In my mind, I could see where I might move it and what else I would plant with it.  Last night, I was able to stop at the local gardening center for about 15 minutes before they closed and was excited to see that they did sell mayapples at the exorbitant price of $9.99.

I left empty-handed, sticking to my promise not to buy any new plants until July.

This morning I had a little time to look deeper into the woods.  I was planning to get the camera out to take pictures for bloom day, but I couldn't find the camera and didn't know where the cord for the laptop was. 

"This is the beginning of the end," I thought.  "Two blog entries that no one will read and I'll never post again because I can't find my *!@#$!@#$* camera."

I walked through the woods anyway, to check out the spot where I thought the mayapple might belong.  It was full of mayapples.  Dozens of them.

*stolen from wikipedia

- - - -

This is what I want to share in the blog.  Along with the plans, the facts, the mundane, I want to share the joy that gardening can bring. 

I hope it will be interesting.  More importantly, I hope I keep up with it.  I work full time, have a 70 mile round-trip commute, and a three year old daughter.  I'm notoriously bad at following through with things and most projects I start are never completed.

I'm going to try.

(And if I have to steal all of my pictures from wikipedia until I find my camera and cord, so be it.)