Comments

1. 
   user-1020932 12/02/2014

   looks great and i really like learning about and seeing the results of new gardeners. dahlias always give you a lot of bang for your buck, glad you grew those your first year. i'm in greenville from time to time as i live about 2 hours away in east TN, Country Boys garden center is always a good stopping place. keep us posted next season with everything you are growing

2. 
   Nurserynotnordstroms 12/02/2014

   Joshua nothing better than gardening,and it looks like you are having a great time of it. Fine Gardening magazine is great if you don't already subscribe,I also love to buy used gardening books saves money and you get so many more books to enjoy. I get to visit South Carolina and I am really looking forward to it. Keep sending photos it is so fun to watch a garden and gardener grow.

3. 
   meander_michaele 12/02/2014

   Welcome to the "club"...so to speak, Joshua. Looks like you have a wonderful walkway up to your front porch and I'd be smiling big also if I was gazing down at that great tapestry of colors. Your dahlias are glorious and I guess as a South Carolinian gardener, you don't have to bother with digging up the tubers for safe storage over the winter. Lucky you...just feed everything with that great looking compost and enjoy how things will just get bigger and better.

4. 
   GrannyMay 12/02/2014

   When you love what you do, it is not work. Lucky you to fall in love with gardening, Joshua! Whether you choose to make it your profession or keep it as a hobby, it will enrich your life from now on. Your photos show that you have already made a great start. Thank you for sharing.

5. 
   NCYarden 12/02/2014

   Yeah, Joshua! Gardening in the Southeast. Your potential plant palette is large, so you have much to look forward to. You're off to an awesome start. Gotta love dahlias - certainly the blooms are a sweet reward despite their weak body. This site will definitely spark some great ideas as there are fantastic gardens featured here, each gardener with an interesting and unique approach to the endeavor. Gardening is going to be a magical addiction for you, so just be prepared because you are in for a world of dirt. Welcome and thanks for sharing. Post your progress for sure.

6. 
   Tim_Zone_Denial_Vojt 12/02/2014

   Looks like you went at it full-throttle! Looks great. I really like your choice of annuals, and I'm jealous that you can probably leave those beautiful dahlias in the ground all year.

7. 
   Jay_Sifford 12/02/2014

   Great job, Joshua. It looks as if you've found your passion. Look forward to seeing more when your garden matures.

8. 
   greengenes 12/02/2014

   Iam so happy for you, Joshua! This is a whole new world to explore and enrich your life by. Gardening brings hope and creativity into ones life. There are so many cool plants and things to do! Your dahlias are gorgeous and the compost area..nice! How big is your place? We will be looking forward to seeing your garden through the year ahead! Thanks!

9. 
   lindanewber 12/02/2014

   Hi Joshua. Thanks for sharing your summer pics. Your Dahlias are beautiful. I'm impressed that you've started composting right out of the gate. Really smart. I get a little down this time of year....waiting for spring. It's good to see your summer flowers. Good luck with your new passion ?

10. 
    user-7007315 12/02/2014

    Thank you soo much for your kind and encouraging words. (this is Joshua) I have had a blast this year with gardening. This year I have also decided I have wanted to become a horticulturist. Granny May said it best. "When you love what you do, it is not work."

    Already planning for next year. With more dahlias and celosias.

11. 
    OregonGardenGal 12/02/2014

    I like how the pots echo the color in your front door (and contrast with the colors in your flowers) A great start! It will be even more fun next year.

12. 
    sheila_schultz 12/02/2014

    You've definitely been bitten by the gardening bug, Joshua. The wonderful adventure of plants and their people has begun... you are in for a wildly satisfying ride! Welcome to the never-ending party ;)

13. 
    GrannyCC 12/02/2014

    Welcome to the wonderful world of gardening Joshua. Your first efforts are amazing. Obviously you have a Green Thumb. Once you are addicted you are in it for life. Sounds and looks like you would be a good Horticulturist.

14. 
    wittyone 12/02/2014

    Oh, Joshua, you are going to have so much fun. You obviously have a green thumb and that goes a long way as encouragement----being successful in first efforts keeps you going.

    The dahlias are gorgeous. I've never grown them since this far north they have to be dug up and stored over the winter----not something that I want to add to fall gardening work. I bet that where you live they can be left in ground during the winter which also helps since you can plant around them easily with other perennials.

    Composting is a wonderful process (if laborious) and you improve your soil every year that way and utilize otherwise useless things to do it. Yea! You get an A+.

    Be sure to send more pics next year so we can follow your progress.

15. 
    Meelianthus 12/02/2014

    Hello Joshua ~ I love your gardening enthusiasm - first ingredient in a wonderful garden. Your colors are wonderful and the 'before' and 'after' pics show your budding love for this great past time. What gardening zone are you in? Thanks for sharing and looking forward to more pics from your next season adventures.

1. 
   user-7007315 12/02/2014

   Thank you for your compliments! I am in zone 7b.

16. 
    greengenes 12/02/2014

    Well Joshua, as I was walking around outside a little bit ago I thought of something that I would like to share with you. You are a young man and iam almost sixty. One thing I regret most of all is not planting certain trees when I could of while I was young. There are so many beautiful trees out there and small ones for small gardens and big ones for the bigger gardens. If you plant now you will have a lot of enjoyment out of them! They will be wonderful specimens later on. To see the fullness of a tree is like seeing a child all grown up and seeing what they really have become. So I hope this helps in your future endevors in the dirt!

17. 
    user-7007140 12/02/2014

    I agree with Jeanne. Some of my favorites are: silver birch, horse chestnut, redbud, crape myrtle, magnolia Sweet Bay, Magnolia Grandiflora - actually pretty much any magnolia! - And Hemlock. Hemlock is a gorgeous,evergreen, graceful Beauty.
    I have all of the above and am happy to report that most of them were small to start with and that after only eight years are a fantastic size.
    Now, having started your garden, Joshua, you will now be mind boggled at the variety of creatures great and small which will arrive to give you even more pleasure. Paradise is about the right word for me!
    Who was who said "prepare to be amazed"?

18. 
    perenniallycrazy 12/03/2014

    Talk about the starting right! I share every bit of your enthusiasm having discovered my love for gardening not too long ago. I wish you could share all that gardening energy with the rest of us. It is quite a satisfying, enjoyable and rewarding hobby/job/career - the return will be more than ten-fold and for many years to come. I look forward to seeing your garden and your likes evolve and change through the years. Welcome to the club!

19. 
    thevioletfern 12/06/2014

    I can tell you have the "bug!" Beautiful beginnings - those dahlias - ah. I have a similar compost set up - or, I did. It is now one huge mound, spilling over the "stalls" and still growing. I will be using it judiciously next year.

20. 
    Cenepk10 12/08/2014

    Nice, Joshua ! Great job !!! Love your compost bin. Mine is just a pile. Everything looks beautiful- love your front door color too ... Now - keep those pics coming !

21. 
    user-7007320 12/08/2014

    I really really love what you have done. I pray i do so in the coastal city of Lagos, Nigeria.