Birds are chirping, the sun is shining, insects are emerging from every nook and cranny… spring is here! With all this sunshine and happiness also comes my annual tradition of heading to our local greenhouse and rounding up the latest collection of all the plants I want kill. Er, grow, I mean grow. (I really do!)

I like to kill flowers for sport too.

This all started back when we bought our first house. We had a huge yard and I thought to myself, “Hey, I bet  you could grow some basil and a few tomatoes here!” I asked my dad to till up a small spot for an herb garden. Somehow he misheard and thought I said I would like to try to end world hunger in my backyard and I came home to a fairly overwhelming plot of land. Common sense told me to plant a few rows and leave the rest alone, give it back to the yard. Did common sense win out? Nope. Instead I filled the whole damn garden with seeds and plants and asked for another area to be tilled because I am not bright.

As dumb as my idea was, I actually had a moderate amount of beginners luck that first year and ended up with a decent crop of peppers and tomatoes plus oregano that the current homeowners are probably still dealing with. It all went downhill after that first year (literally, rain washed half the garden down a hill) but that doesn’t stop me from trying year after pitiful year. I usually only end up with some basil, oregano and enough cilantro to make guacamole with (at least until everyone starts griping about said cilantro), but I have fun trying and feel like I’m contributing to a better planet for about a week, so I carry on.

Our yard now is a bit smaller (Justin is quite happy about this), so I switched to containers

Look, I’m Pinterest! Plus a valid reason to purchase a staple gun!

a few years back. However, this year I hit the jackpot and ended up with a wood pallet my parents didn’t want and I turned it into a garden because Pinterest said so. I eagerly planted the usual suspects this weekend while listening to the new Sturgill Simpson (get on it! It’s so good.) and relaxed for a few minutes.

I am in no way qualified to give gardening tips, so if you’re interested in making one of these beauties I suggest you head to Pinterest and go for it. Just don’t get your hopes up. Trust me on this one.