by Emese Tuza

Created on: August 13, 2008   Last Updated: March 02, 2010

Gardening in the Pacific Northwest is not for the faint of heart. The clay soil, I affectionately refer to as my "garden"; the lack of sunshine 10 months out of the year and the myriad of weeds will deter anyone who is less than a master gardener. I found out it is also not for those of us who are afraid of slugs.

My flower bed story started last summer. Due to my constant nagging, my husband along with our neighbor who was aching to dig up something, ANYTHING with his new tractor, created a small but seemingly perfect corner for me to play with. Carefully surrounded by chicken wire to deter our three ditzy Labrador retrievers from using it as their bathroom, the garden was ready for me! I admired it for a few weeks - even starking empty, it was beautiful. See I don't have a green thumb...I always wanted one but in all honesty, I was terrified of the new flower bed. I didn't know what to do with it, what to plant in it, how to protect it from pests and I didn't want to mess it up. By now we were also going into the rainy season, so I tentatively planted some bulbs along the edge, hoping for the best. I figured I have the whole winter to plan out the rest of the garden. "Let's wait until spring", I told my husband, "maybe they will have great sales in March or April". He shrugged and said it was my deal.

Through the winter months, weeds and slugs have taken over the flower bed. Every weekend I thought about going out there and weeding, but the sight of those slimy creatures deterred me. Before we knew it, spring was around the corner and the bulbs started sprouting, only to be eaten by the hungry resident bunnies in the backyard. Those furry neighbors ate all but the most resilient tulips which grew tall and beautiful. Fortunately, they were not picky eaters and destroyed most of my weeds too. In the weeks that followed, we planted three hydrangea bushes and several Gerber daisies along the edge. Today, the garden still consists of only those daisies and the anemic hydrangeas, which really should be moved to a more shady location. I still feel clueless about what kind of flowers to plant and am still terrified of the slugs. Summer is almost over and this procrastinating gardener is ready for another winter to hope for the best and try to educate herself on the joys of gardening in the Pacific Northwest.

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