Cirque du Malaise

Behind my cottage there is a lovely little patch of sunshine that has been begging to be turned into a garden. For the last few weeks, the Scotch Broom has really been bossing it around, so I decided that today would be the day I put down my computer and tell that invasive non-native species who's in charge around here.

I have never gardened anything but a few cacti and a small, modest collection of potted herbs, but I was going to learn. First, I needed supplies.  So I went to the hardware store with my shopping list, which looked like this:

The dude at the hardware store gave me his most compassionate look of contempt, asked a few general questions, and then diplomatically suggested that perhaps what I needed was actually a pair of gardening gloves to weed the thing with my hands. I bought gloves, and also a pretty red shovel. And then I got to work.

Here is what my garden-to-be-looked like BEFORE:

And after 90 minutes of my harrassing hand-weed-pulling technique and a few small temper tantrums, here's what it looks like now:

Yes, I know. It's like a scene from The Road. It's absolutely embarrassing. I might have to admit that I don't have a green thumb.

I think I should stick to computers.