It's no Garden of Eden

The television’s on in the background. An episode of Backyard Blitz is just finishing.

The Backyard Blitz team did a makeover on a small backyard for a very deserving family. In the end the result looked wonderful and the team picked up the bill, covering the $31 000 price tag.

I wonder what we could achieve in our backyard with $31 000. I reckon we’d just brick pave the entire area. We are definitely the world’s worst gardeners.

We have a very nicely designed backyard. It’s on two levels with a brick paved area, some grass and some garden beds. The garden beds are full of weeds. Come to think of it so is the lawn. And now that you mention it, there are weeds growing through the gaps in the brick paving.

The plants we’d like to keep alive in our garden die with monotonous regularity. The weeds we could well do without, thrive.

I wish we knew what we were doing in the garden but we’re hopeless. I’d be more than happy to have gardening skills, or the money to pay someone who has, but without either it looks like I’ll just keep trying to poison the weeds in the garden beds and in the paving and mowing down the ones in the lawn.

What a shame Backyard Blitz never decided to play with our little piece of the planet.

Are you a gardener? Do you have green thumbs? Can you keep the right kinds of plants alive at your place?

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He previously worked in radio for about 25 years but these days he spends his time at Compassion Australia, working towards releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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10 Comments

  • I just started gardening last year after being told all my life that I have a brown thumb. My gardens are really starting to look great, thanks to the generosity of other gardeners and all of the great garden bloggers out there. I’ve really learned a lot from them. Check out Stuart’s blog. Not only is he near you but at the top of his page you can click on “Find a Garden Blogger Near You” to find others.

  • Thanks Apple. Maybe I should give it a go but I find it so hard to get motivated around plants and dirt.

    I really enjoy seeing a well kept garden but making it happen seems to be beyond me. ๐Ÿ™‚

  • i try to garden. i don’t really know what i’m doing though and anything i plant either seems to be adopted as a toilet by the dog or it just shrivels up and dies for apparent reason. one day i’ll have a nice looking garden…..

  • No,
    I do not have a green thumb.
    As a matter of fact,
    I had an artificial plant, but it died because
    I didn?t pretend to water it.

    Nice post ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Heya Rodney!

    I hope I have a green thumb considering that I now run a gardening business and blog tips website:D

    You know, Aussie Green Thumb ‘might’ be looking for a willing participant in a ‘free’ backyard blitz type activity (like basic weeding and the like as you described) for a blog series I am considering. If your interested I could keep you in mind?

    James
    Aussie Green Thumb

  • Nice to hear from a few more ‘non-gardners’.

    Hey James – Thanks for adding this post to Stumble Upon. By the way, I’m completely up for being a part of your blog series. ๐Ÿ™‚

  • no, no and no again. My plants always die, I either over feed them or under feed them? I saw that episode, it was touching!
    I hear next week is the very last BB’z? I’ll miss them, they were a great team, I loved their commaderie.

  • Rodney

    From what I have learned, you have, in WA, the most AMAZING native plants, and thousands of them.

    Perhaps get away from the traditional garden that requires what you don’t have, and plant what grows natural in your area, and why not? WA has native to its land some of the most exotic, wonderful, enticing wildflowers, and you should be proud of them!

    I know someone who only grows native plants to the area, and he photographs them exquisitely, have a look…[forgetting the rose that mistakenly put in that section] of only a fraction of what WA has to offer ยป http://johndolphin.net/photos/categories.php?cat_id=1

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