Story Time! My garden "blogging" journey had humble beginnings. I started gardening back in 2018 when my husband and I first moved to our town home in Washington, DC. We didn't know we owned the land behind our house until we got close to closing on our home, and the surveyor informed us of the actual property line that extends past our house. This excited me as I considered all the cool things we could do with our backyard, like start a garden...duh lol.
The first few things I grew were herbs from seed on my windowsill. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was actually able to germinate cilantro and basil. I didn't have as much luck with germinating thyme, as I now know how long it actually takes to grow to maturity, let alone germinate.
After I saw I could actually grow something in my home, I then transitioned to growing tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers in containers on our deck the following summer that we lived in our home. That was a sad first harvest as I could count on both hands how many tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers that were harvested. This didn't discourage me though. I somehow convinced my husband to build some wooden raised beds for me outside in our bare yard. He built three of them that I actually grew some tomatoes, okra, peppers, cucumbers, and potatoes in! (Thank God he's handy!) Once I saw how much I could grow, I convinced him to build two more beds and I even added grow bags for some flair.
Fast forward, I was then pregnant with my first daughter in 2020, when the world shut down, and my newfound love for gardening was that thing to help me cope with being isolated in the home and socially distanced from my loved ones until Baby Urban GardenHER #1 was born that summer. I continued to garden after she was born and even included her in some of my gardening tasks. Being quarantined and isolated during the pandemic as a new mom was a slight blessing in disguise because I was able to dedicate so much of my time and energy to my new baby, my husband, and our garden.
Postpartum after that first baby was not as bad because of this peace away from the chaos of the outside world. During that first year of my daughter's life, we grew so many vegetables that we didn't even know what to do with. I enjoyed taking pictures and posting them on my personal Instagram page, but didn't get much engagement or likes from my followers. One of my close friends even told me that every time I posted a story on my Instagram page, she would get excited to see a picture of my daughter, but then was disappointed to see that it was just a vegetable from my garden LOL. That sparked my desire to create a garden Instagram page to document and blog my garden journey, and connect with a gardening community. Ever since then, I've met so many cool gardeners in the IG garden community and learned so many tips and tricks to growing food in our garden.
I hope to use this blog as a place to continue connecting with other gardeners and individuals that aspire to garden. I also plan to share garden inspiration, tips, lessons, and recipes. Gardening is a life skill that everyone can do no matter what size space you have. It is also my place of peace that I feel connected to God and grounded.
Thanks for staying long enough to finish reading this blog post and for following along on my garden journey. Stay tuned for future blog posts with more content. Until next time...
Happy Gardening!
-The Urban GardenHER (Alexis)
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