I went out early with good intentions!

[Adina P]

OK--I will admit that the idea of starting a garden is hugely intimidating.  I don't truly have an interest in it for now.  (I HATED the Botany section of Biology).  

However, a small area I could, maybe-just-maybe successfully plant dawned on me.  The porch plant boxes!  They are built into the porch and hold the remnants of plantings gone wrong (my mom planted them and I killed them through neglect based on forgetting I had plants every day).

I asked a friend what I should plant there and she suggested petunias because they grow bountifully and were hard to kill and inexpensive.  I was SOLD.

This Sunday morning, off to Wal Mart at the bright and shiny hour of 7am I went!  I found a bazillion petunias and realized I didn't know how many I needed to fill the planters.  I asked the sales person and she mentioned Petunias required planting yearly and it was like she  just told me 'Petunias require 30 hours a day of manual labor and then you have to stay up all night to be sure they aren't crying or need their soil changed!'  

Needless to say I decided Petunias were the most wrong plant for me ever!

So I left my dream of planting at Wal Mart today.

What else can I plant that is hardy, pretty, and requires nothing of me?  Perhaps some silk flowers from the home decor section?

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

You are officially a gardener!!! welcome to the club. Your petunias look great. Not planted to low, they show now and will grow, like Nadia. Miracle grow is dirt, nitrogen, phosporous and some other element that i can't find in my crowded rolodex brain right now. The "miracle" ingredient is a polyacrylate quite similar to the one in disposable diapers. None of these things are poisonous. It should harm Nadia no more to ingest a smidge or two of it than regular dirt. I taught a science lesson for years for young children that included polyacrylate as the main ingredient. It is very fun as it's chief property is to absorb many hundreds of times it weight in water. If you are bored some evening (unlikey with a baby, but not impossible) carefully tear open a diaper and save the white powder/crystals inside. Add water and watch - they are crazy. Put the smallest amount that you can still see on a penny and add water a drop at a time and see how much water it takes.

Anyway back to your new status as gardener. The planter boxes are a great place to start. Another no stress annual is the "Profusion" Zinnia. It is a small in stature ( tall enought to tip it's head over the planter) zinnina that comes in white and several varieties of orange/gold. It is a star. Not susceptible to mildew, slugs, snails or other ills, it blooms relentlessly and continually until frost without deadheading or any maintenance other than watering.

Trailing or mounding is also great, as is periwinkle. Both dog and kid friendly and tolerant of missing an occasionally watering. Periwinkle can look half dead by drought and bounce right back with pail of water.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Is this polyacrylate what they put in those moisture granules? I'll check on my way out. I have some in my garage.But then wouldn't the pot contents expand. Oh, dear.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Yes. The ingredient in moisture granules is a polyacrylate, often sodium polyacrylate . When you look at the ingredients in all the moisture binding things - there it is - somtimes it has so many chemical groups added or substituted somewhere the name is hard to recognize. And yes the Miracle grow dirt does expand when you water it. However, regular old plan dirt "expands" when you water it before it compacts because the water gets in between the dirt particles then as the water drains through and out the bottom of the pot the dirt contracts or compacts. The idea of the particles is that they will absorb the water as it is moving throught the soil so the dirt really does not compact as much making it both airier for the roots and, if they are in contact with one of the tiny polyacrylate particles can absorb water from them. Also the polyacrylate naturally "dries out" with time rereleasing the water very slowly into the soil for the roots to absorb. I think probably the benefit over time from airier,less compacted soil is at least as helpful to the plants as the water held by the polyacrylate and then released slowly. The polyacrylate does not wear out, but over time, inspite of the chemical the soil becomes so root bound and compacted that the water flows throught too quickly for the PA to have time to absorb much and then dirt must be renewed, just like with plain dirt. We are so darn not here in the summer in SoCA that I have not found Miracle Soil to be much help. Even a large soaked pot can be dry as bone in four hours and the poor plants have many more hours of heat to get through waiting for the miracle granules to release some more water. So I usually use cheaper potting soil.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Yes, I checked the Moisture Plus granules I have and it's the same too.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Adina - I know your daughter's name is Natalie So sorry. Anyway you are certainly a learner and nuturer by nature and so welcome to your first gardening adventure. The trailing and mounding plant I was refering to is verbena - another no care summer star.