My Black Thumb

See this GORGEOUS Trumpet Vine? It's not mine; it's Mom's. She's given me shoots from it three times, but I have never even been able to keep them alive long enough to plant them! I pretty much kill everything I try to grow, with only a couple of exceptions. There is one plant that I have at school that is thriving, but only because it basically can't be killed and practically grows in the dark (don't ask me what it's called; I am clueless.)

Thankfully, I have Mr.4444 to help. He is SO sweet; he made two raised gardens for me to plant vegetables in. We've had the gardens about two years, and I did manage to grow some nice pear tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, and cilantro last year. This year, we got a bit of a late start, and the garden looks pretty pathetic, but I was full of initiative the other day and actually weeded it!

This year, Mr.4444 decided to plant lettuce, carrots, basil, and other goodies. So, I "went to town" weeding and even cut lettuce for our supper! I was a little confused about one row of lettuce; it looked pretty bedraggled, so I cut it down and threw those leaves in the woods. I also saw big, deep deer tracks in the garden and made a mental note to ask Mr.4444 to help me put up the fencing that we had forgotten about.

Lawn mowed, garden weeded, and deck blown clean, I sat down for the first time all day and happily awaited Mr.4444's arrival home to bask in his praise. A neighbor, Ron, stopped by with some homegrown cukes (YUM), and he and Mr.4444 went out to our garden before I could even share my news. Here follows our conversation when Mark came inside, after Ron had left:

Mr.4444 Wow! The deer got into the garden last night and totally munched the radishes!!

Me: Yeah, I saw the tracks. Um...radishes??

Mr.4444: ????

Me: Um...I think I cut those radishes down, thinking they were lettuce!

Mr.4444 shakes his head and laughs. "No wonder. I thought those deer did an incredible job chewing them off so neatly."

Of course, Mr.4444 called Ron later to tell him what I had done. Ron's reply, "Well, tell her we put up the fencing; that should keep her out of there in the future!"