Dreaming of Green Shoots

The snow on either side of our sidewalk is thigh high. The roads are icy. The wind is cold. This is the winter that seems it will never end. And yet....

I can almost feel the warmth of summer. Why? Because the catalogs have started coming. What catalogs? Those of the seed variety, of course. Burpee Seeds & Gurney's are old favorites. Others will soon be on the way. I love looking at the pictures and reading the descriptions. Some of the photos are so luscious, I feel that I can just sink my teeth into a ripe Big Boy tomato or a juicy Georgia Peach. Oh dear. My mouth is watering as I type.

I dream of having a garden with rows of well spaced tomato and pepper plants, poles of beans and hills for cucumbers and potatoes. I want vines heavy with pumpkins and watermelon. I want to see the bushy tops of carrots and tall stalks of corn.

I dream of having a garden that looks like this:









I won't of course...but that is always my dream. My garden will never look like the above picture for several reasons:

1) Neither of my thumbs are green. Try though I might, I often struggle to keep my plants alive.
2) Our yard is small. Well, technically the front yard is big and beautiful (we're on a corner lot), but the back yard - where any gardening would normally take place - is TINY. Small to begin with, it was made smaller by the addition of the family room, a large deck and a detached garage (all added by a former owner). What's left is itty bitty.
3) I have no idea what I'm doing.
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Last year I tried container gardening on a small scale. I was pleased with the results. This year I hope to do more. More containers. More plants. More variety.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I tried my hand at canning for the first time last summer, and loved it. I want to grow enough this summer to can jars of salsa, spaghetti sauce, beans, corn...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I'm not holding my breath. But I am reading these catalogs from cover to cover... and maybe I'll soak up some much needed Planting skill through osmosis? Well, you and I both know that won't happen, so I'll cross my fingers, say a little prayer and follow the instructions. Maybe along the way I'll pick up some good advice from folks who do have green thumbs. The combination of those things might work better than osmosis anyway.
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If, YOU happen to have a green thumb and expertise to share... feel free to give me some pointers. I'd love to hear them!!