I am impressed at the gardening prowess of the Bluestockingers. I am a dreadful gardener - mum and dad were both very keen - dad grew fruit and veg, and mum was an iris breeder and collector of many, many interesting plants - at one point we had over half an acre of garden, and mum had made it an absolute horticultural wonderland. I only have to look at things to kill them.
Dh is keen on a neatly mown lawn - he’s not obsessed, but during the spring, summer and autumn, I get weekly updates on his lawn mowing activities. We think that he may do more actual gardening, when he retires, but until then, we are left with an acceptable lawn with some scruffy bushes along the back fence - and one good apple tree. I have pots and a vintage enamelled tub that I try to do container gardening in, but again, I kill more than I nurture.
It doesn’t help that we live in cold and rainy Scotland, and I don’t know what plants to choose, that will do best here. I have worked on the theory that, if it is sold in a Scottish garden centre, a plant should be suitable for Scotland, but that might be naive of me. I love lavender, peonies snowdrops, cherries and marguerites, but my success rate with the first three is patchy at best - I haven’t tried marguerites yet. I do have a cherry tree (no 2) that isn’t dead yet, and has once produced a cherry, but a bird ate it. I did try gooseberries once - I bought two plants and put them in a corner of the garden. One was dug up, dragged around and killed by our chocolate lab, who would give Batshit a run for his money, and the other one sat sullenly in the corner for two or three years, neither growing nor dying - just sulking.