Where to begin?

Confession #1: I want a beautiful garden. I want the kind of garden that you see on HGTV or the pages of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. This is not a new wish. Before we bought our house ten years ago, when we lived in a rental and didn't have any money because we were paying off student loans and saving up for the house's down payment, I used to send myself to sleep by imagining that I was giving Adrian Bloom and a camera crew a tour of my garden - a garden so beautiful and verdant that they were delighted to profile it on the Victory Garden. I would speak modestly and humbly in my designer gardening togs, and, of course, I would know the Latin names of all the plants, and they would thank me for sharing my beautiful garden.

Then we bought our house. It's an ordinary suburban split-level with an ordinary-sized yard (for Minnesota, I don't what size the yards are where you live), and I found out what kind of gardener I really am. It turns out I am a dreamer, a planner, and an information gatherer. I am not, it seems, much of a doer. There have been a few projects attempted, and some of them were completed (there is a vegetable garden and some planting beds were installed in the front yard), but there are several projects that I have been intending to get to for the last ten years which are still either unstarted or, worse, unfinished, and none of my garden has the kind of beauty I long for.

After years of HGTV, garden magazines, and The Victory Garden, I do have a vision of what I want my garden to be, complete with garden 'rooms', herb and vegetable gardens, and little benches scattered about on which to sit and watch the birds and smell the roses. I want a pergola for shade on sunny days, and I want a firepit for family and guests to sit around on cool autumn nights. The question is how to install these things between committee meetings, Boy Scout camps, and episodes of NCIS, which airs at least three times a day?

The obvious answer may be to hire professionals. The problem with that leads me to Confession #2: I am cheap. I am unwilling to pay someone to do something I could very well do myself if only I weren't so lazy and/or addicted to NCIS. (I can't help it, Michael Weatherly is just so cute!) So what to do?

Here is my answer. I've just got to get off my butt and do it! And I need someone to make sure that I do. That's where you come in. You are going to keep me honest and keep me working. Just knowing that you are out there (even if at first you're just in my imagination) will keep me going. I hope.

Let me assure you that this is not going to be a one-way street. In return for your vigilance, I will offer you what knowledge and information I gain from my quest. The information will be gleaned from twenty years worth of magazine clippings and my own notes. (Did I mention I'm an information gatherer?) As I share the knowledge that comes from my experiences, hopefully you will be able to learn from my mistakes and my victories.

So what do you say? Do we have a deal? Please, join me on my quest for a beautiful garden. I can't wait to see what happens!