Our Garden's Humble Beginnings...

I received these plants on February 27th, 2014... it was the start of my humble tea garden and there was a lot of optimism after having studied which plants to start with. I had previously attempted growing with a basil plant I picked up from Trader Joe's a few years prior, but I had no idea what I was doing and it died. I thought maybe it wasn't meant for me to be a gardener... but then I realized people have farmed this land for as long as humans were able to support huge communities of people. They were always capable of growing SOMETHING to SURVIVE. It may have not been the tastiest compared to their neighbor's, but they made it happen. 

After doing some research to better up my odds against killing more plants, I learned I wanted to start a tea garden... and my favorite tea at that moment just happened to be Ju Hua Chrysanthemum, what you would normally find at a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant. Not the standard Jasmine tea, but the the herbal tea made with the flower heads of the chrysanthemum flower. It cuts through oily/greasy foods, brings you back to life after a night of drinking and can help detox your body of any toxins from bad eating choices. It was a perennial, so I couldn't kill it that easy and it was just as pretty as it was edible. DONE.

It was time to hunt down a source for my plant and that proved difficult. I've been wanting to grow this for sometime, but it was very difficult to find anything pertaining to the subject for a home gardener in America. Many chrysanthemum varieties were not edible, and with all the kinds out there, I definitely did not want to make a mistake. After rooting around on the internet, I finally found a source at Companion Plants for my Ju Hua Chrysanthemum. I ordered 4 plants (insurance policy against failure) and I threw in an additional plant, Lemon Thyme, just for fun. (It could be used for culinary cooking and herbal teas as well...) Both plant selections were perennial. There was no way I could kill these, but I made sure I fashioned some makeshift cloches out of plastic bottles to help up their success rate.

After 4 years, I am proud to say these plants are STILL alive. I've since learned how to propagate with the chrysanthemum wedding favor project we had and we've cooked a LOT with the lemon thyme. We also harvest and process the flowers for tea and it's opened up an entire world of interest in growing/cooking edible varieties to build our home with. Many people ask me what attributed to my success with my container garden, but I just really have to tell you:

• Grow something RARE. If you can't get it easily, you'll do whatever it takes to keep it alive since it's so difficult to source. If it's RARE, it's probably EXPENSIVE, so you'll be saving $$$ depending on how much you like to consume that item and trust me, you'll baby the crap out of them when you're proud to finally source something so difficult to source. ;)
• Grow PERENNIALS. I'm dead serious. It's less work because you plant ONCE and it's a gift that keeps on giving. If it's the type that needs dividing after a couple of years in its container then it's also a plant that'll multiply over time. If you want to level up in gardening while mitigating the risk of failure, these are the plants for YOU.
• Start small... gardening can be costly if you do not have good soil to work with. Ours was slow to start because I didn't understand the impact soil quality had until I learned to invest in my potting soils. Bypassing that $15 bag of soil may cost you $20-100+ dollars in additional soil amendments and pest control later depending on the size of your container garden. Remember: that bag has all the nutrients you need to get your plants off to a healthy start if you buy something worth while. Invest in your soil and you'll do great. So pick a few plants that interest you and invest in your small garden. I ended up buying a buttload of plant starts later because it wasn't enough to scratch the itch once I was addicted, but soil stopped me. I invested in cheaper soils to expand my garden at the pace I wanted, but I probably should have started slow and invested. It would have saved me a lot of grief and time had I done so.
• Buy a bug net for your hat. If insects creep you out and you don't like being stung, get one. Although you're gardening, not all creatures will know you as a friend VS foe. Arm yourself with tools to be successful. You don't need a lot, just be strategic.

Those are just a few things I learned that helped me continue forward each day. It's just a matter of PERSPECTIVE. When you start doubting yourself, take a step back and look at it from another angle. This garden has taught me to accept my failures as learning lessons towards success. If you treat it as a case study, it won't be as devastating when you lose it. (Here's hoping I don't lose it with all these plants to take care of now!) LOL... 

Have fun with it, and if you've any stories to share regarding your first garden, please do so! It's always nice to hear other people's perspectives. =D