I have never gone to school or had any formal training for gardening, so to me, I would consider myself your Average Gardener. Although lacking "formal" training for growing and caring for your garden, I do have some tips and advice for gardening for people I consider an "average gardener" like me.

Like most of us average gardeners, my learning has mostly been by trial and error, (sometimes more error than trial), devouring garden books and magazines from Lowe's and Home Depot (they must love me- I spend enough money on their magazines), some Internet research (isn't it great to be able to get instant advice on plants right at your fingertips?) and talking and huddling with other fellow gardeners, neighbors and garden fanatics like myself.....

Since I am considered an "intuitive" person (the brain tests tell me so anyway)- alot of what I do in my garden is based on what I feel or think I should do at any given time (it doesn't always work out but sometimes I get some nice surprises) I think the real passion for me in my garden though is the sense of self esteem I get from growing plants, flowers and vegetables (with alot of help from nature of course!)

I am also an artist, so that certainly helps me with balancing colors, textures, and various layouts- and being artsy in my garden is definitely another way I can express my creativity- and beyond all this- the garden is an intense place of therapy for me.

My plants don't talk back, they don't argue with me, they don't demand customer satisfaction, and basically, well- they just like me and I like them!

So we have a good relationship, my plants and I (better than some people I know in my life)- and I feel that as long as I treat my garden fairly and spend time with it the rewards will be substantial (well for the most part anyway!)

Todays tips and advice are some short ones I've gleaned from today's experience in my patch of Earth (as you gardeners know we do learn something new just about everyday if we pay attention) Some lessons are lessons that I had already learned but for some reason thought that if I only tried them again I might get a different result (this sometimes works but not always as we know)

Lesson number #1:

Do not wear nice clothes while gardening! Although you may be tempted to go out in your garden in your Sunday best after church, don't do it!! You never know what you might decide to do in your garden on a whim!

Today while out in the garden after church I got the bright idea to stake up my rose bushes (the ones I should have staked up a month ago) and guess what? You got it, no more nice Sunday blouse! (it now has little tears where I was poked and prodded by hundreds of little rose thorns)

Which comes to Lesson Number #2:

If you have plants that require staking, do it while the plant is still manageable! Otherwise you will be like me today, getting poked and pinched by an almost out of control plant (plus it looks a whole lot nicer when you do it earlier- the plant kind of grows naturally into its confinement.) I now have hideous looking white string leaning and hanging all around my rose bush- but if I didn't do it now I would have lost most of my roses to the ground.

Lesson number #3:

Don't assume you can trust your animals in your garden- I let my cats garden with me (really because i have no other choice- but for the most part they behave themselves except when they decide to lay right in the middle of my planting experience) And as for my border collie Karma, her and I are going to have to have a talk when she gets home because I found a nice BIG HOLE under the same rose bush . (She had apparently attempted to dig an underground tunnel to go visit the neighbors dog.)

Lesson number #4:

If you do have animals, keep that mind when planting- I found one of my beautiful read salvia's broken off at the tips today because it was right in the runway of the fence high jump that my cat Zorro uses when getting chased by the dog. (So watch your animals - and see where they naturally go in your yard- then try planting your garden around their exploits- otherwise be prepared to be picking up broken branches and broken pieces off your plants)

Lesson number #5:

Try to plant your plants right away after purchasing them- Languishing in pots stunts their growth and you will get a much nicer and faster return if you pick a spot for them, and plant them in their new home. I used to let my plants languish for weeks or even months in their pots only to find that I had robbed myself of their enjoyment by just not making decisions where to plant them (plus you can always dig them up later on and replant them somewhere else if you don't like where you put them- invasive plants are harder to do this with though)

So I hope you enjoyed today's tips and advice for the garden - I have decide to write a series of articles on this topic. Rather than just journal my thoughts I think it is more useful to share what I've learned in my garden in the attempt to help you and hopefully also have you stop and have a laugh or two- and by the way, if you have any tips, please feel free to let me know- and I will include your tips for gardening with your name in future articles!