Green Thumbin’ It

The gardening process has begun. Though, admittedly, most of the planting has been done by Win. His thumb is just greener than mine. He also has more tolerance for the dirt and heat that go hand-in-hand with gardening. However, I do help with picking out the plants, so that’s something. 

Last weekend’s night market visit was dedicated primarily to buying things that we need around the house, namely, plants. Ranging in price from 10 – 100 baht, we found plants of all shapes and sizes, as well as baggies of seeds (we think). And we have the beginnings of a collection of clay garden creatures, mandatory to any Thai garden.

We perused the flower market around the corner from our school to supplement our weekend purchases, and ended up with a tiny snail escapee.  Plants are being bought in small bundles because we can only carry so much on a motorbike, but every little bit brings more life to our yard. 

The seed bags have been dumped and watered, and then re-watered by the almost daily downpours as rainy season begins. There’s a chance that we bought fertilizer instead of seeds, only time will tell. To be on the safe side, we used two different bags in the hopes that at least one of them will grow into something. 

While Win’s goal is to dig holes and spread growth all over the yard and transplant little plants into bigger spaces, I am basically trying to make the porch pretty. I have the beginnings of a hanging flower collection composed of a number of orchid varieties. Now, when you walk out our front door, the light, citrusy scent of orchids greets you. 

It’s a small start, but a promising one. And between the abandoned student plants from science class (of which Win has already hijacked a few) and the flower market on the way home from school, we have ample leafy resources. Plus, orchids are far cheaper here than they are back home, which will come in handy when they prove difficult to maintain.