well, I live in Illinois so our summer is truly welcomed by me when it comes......I am not a prolific gardener.....so I merely buy perenials, plant them and hope Mother Nature likes them enough to let them come up the following year(s).....each year I wait anxiously to see what made it thru the winter and marvel at its beauty. I do buy a few annuals in hanging pots to decorate the front porch and back deck, but those I find are more trouble to maintain in the summer than those in the ground............the dirt in those pots gets really hard and water just rolls out of those pots after awhile, so I have to set them in a bucket of water and let them drink from the bottom occasionally...........love cutting flowers from garden and bringing into house - especially the lilacs - which are now ready to pop!!!!!!! We do a veggie garden, but there too, easier plants and let daughter pull weeds that grow around the plants!!!!!!! pulling those weeds allows for a harvest basket!!!!!

The landscape guy suggested mature hydrangea bushes and having pot hangers above the bushes all behind a nice layered edging. No work for me, just buy the pots of flowers when I want a change.

I agree it could be the soil.. I have what they call river soil and am told anything can grow here. Well after 3 years of living here-I can believe it. Have your soil tested-maybe its not you and your black thumb after all ..LOL
We have wonderful vegetable gardens every year as well as the lovely flowers that grow profusely.
So don't give up, have your soil tested or get a test kit and test it yourself ..

I am so glad to hear I am not alone in this. I have tried so many house plants. My sister has given me several house plants that she had started and were doing great. Gave them to me. Dead in couple months. When I bought my home , she had Iris, Rose bushes and a couple more outside . They do find. I don't touch them. I did manage to kill one Rose bush. I love flowers. I don't know what is wrong with me. lol

I can't tell you what I have spent on plants that feed the deer and squirls. I love to garden, but until I get the remodeling done and the yard fenced, I'm not going to try anything more

My neighbor tells me I have a green thumb. I tell her my thumb isn't any greener than hers, I'm just lazier. I plant, water once a week and watch the plants grow as I sit in my porch swing reading a book or relaxing. If it doesn't grow, something else gets planted in its place a month later. She waters, feeds and weeds daily.

Compost, compost, compost!!!! If you don't have space or do not want to make your own there a good ones at Home Depot, garden centers, etc. Mulch, mulch, mulch!!! Anything that will decompose will work. I started out with heavy clay soil and doing this I now have rich black soil that drains well and will grow anything. Hope this helps you.

My DH grows container gardens. We have so many birds in the area though we can't get to the tomatoes and strawberries fast enough. We quit since we ate less than they did. The best we ever grew was during a really good crisp cold winter that lasted longer than usual. Not going to waste the money and labor on it anymore. Our male dog Brutus would bite into the biggest and best strawberry then spit it out. I got so frustrated. he always found it before we did. :{

hhaha so glad to hear i'm not the only brown thumb. the one thing i did grow was a violet. then my son dump it out and picked it apart when he was little. my mom had a green thumb though and could grow anything EXCEPT violets so that drove her nuts.I replanted it and it was doing fine but she wanted to take it home with her to take care of it and be sure it survived-- it died, it was always a giggle between the family.

My DH and now my DD have green thumbs. I have a quilters thumb. It works for us. They provide our family with wonderful fresh veggies and I provide them with wonderful warm quilts for the time when they are huddled in the kitchen on cold February mornings planning the garden and ordering seeds.
I do help with the putting up of the vegetables, but it is their garden.