Sue Ellen Ross – The Southern Yankee

In the past few weeks, I have received gardening tips from friends, neighbors, and people in the community.

I want to tell them thanks, but no thanks.

Although I had big plans to grow my own tomatoes, green peppers and onions, I have a more pressing problem to deal with in my backyard.

We have a tropical tree that has grown from a one-foot baby to a 5-ft. impressive decoration. I don’t know what it is called, but it has long hanging leaves that need a trimming every 3-4 weeks.

And it has outgrown the large plastic tub it has been housed in for the past six years.

As I was getting ready to begin my original plan for the vegetable garden, I had to move “Herbie” to another part of the yard.

He is very heavy (his roots are almost as big as the greenery,) and as I was dragging him to make room for my tomato plants, I noticed the sides of the container were actually split.

We didn’t want to plant him in the ground, since we will probably be moving next year, so I went on a shopping trip to find a new temporary home for Herbie.

It wasn’t easy. I looked at half a dozen stores before I found a tub big enough to accommodate the large roots.

That accomplished, I had to buy potting soil, plastic for ground covering and colored mulch to put around Herbie’s new home. After I made my purchases, I was ready for my afternoon of landscaping; thoughts of those lush tomato plants were long gone.

Once Herbie was securely settled in the large fiberglass tub, and the surrounding area was complete, I sat back to enjoy my work.

It was then that I remembered there were no gutters or downspouts on the roof or patio overhang. And, the area where Herbie now proudly stood always flooded when it rained.

Now I have to hurry and get to the hardware store before we have a torrential downpour and all my hard work will be ruined.

Maybe I should have just stuck with the tomato plants.