What Color is My Thumb?

I've never really had a green thumb ... well, it comes and it goes. Mostly goes. In fact, most of the time I'd say I have a rather *brown* thumb. I can't seem to keep plants alive. The only plant that really stands a chance with me is the aloe vera plant, since they thrive on neglect! Right now I do have one lonely house plant, but someone gave it to me as a "Welcome to Mongolia!" gift last summer. Although it stays inside the house, the poor thing barely survived the winter since I often forgot to water it AND it became all root-bound in its tiny pot. I recently transplanted it into a much larger pot with some nice potting soil and plenty of room for stretching out its roots. It's much happier now perched on the kitchen window sill, close to the water source and sunlight. I just noticed today that there are tiny blooms on it - I'm so excited that it might actually make flowers!

I've decided that since I've sort of redeemed myself, it must be time to apply my gardening efforts to a bigger project. An outdoor project.

On our compound, the landlords have built a greenhouse and assigned soil plots to interested families. We have one, which I prepared and planted this morning. I've planted three types of lettuce, yellow squash, carrots and green beans. Decent veggies are hard to find here in Mongolia and each of these has a relatively short growth cycle. They're doable for the short growing season we have. I hope that my little garden stays happy and we can harvest something yummy in about 6 weeks.