my gardening progression

I used to joke that plants died in my very presence! Even fake ones would give up the ghost! I mean, I actually managed to kill an ALOE PLANT....impossible, right? That's what everyone told me....but in college, I did! A few years later, my sweet in-laws gave me a large pot of some beautiful succulents....yep....killed those too...so sad. I think a good part of my issue was with over or under watering houseplants....kinda still is....
Fast forward 5 years or so to 2009, I am a stay at home mom of an 18 month old, and while I adore my job of keeping house and raising an amazing little boy, I still felt the need to LEARN something new...plus we had just moved into a new house, and for the first time I had a YARD, so I decided to take a risk. At our previous rental home, some sweet neighbors planted several tomato plants, but hated to eat tomatoes, so they were happy to share their yummy homegrown goodness, and smelling those fresh from the vine tomatoes reminded me of childhood memories of a small vegetable plot in my parents backyard....and everyone knows that homegrown tomatoes taste no less than 1000x better than store bought tomatoes...plus this neighbor basically did NOTHING to his plants...just bought them, planted them, and voila, they grew. SURELY I could do that....right? I mean, God would take care of at least SOME of the watering, right???
So a few months after moving into our new house, I scope out a few vacant spots in the yard, then I venture out to Lowes and start picking out plants. I have no idea how much money I spent that summer, but after 5 tomato plants (stuck in a 3x3 bed) and about 12 peppers (in another 3x3 bed), NINE cucumber plants (they took over the world!!) a few basil and cilantro plants, some melon and squash vines  planted in some ridiculous places, and lots of garden soil, potting soil, and several tools etc....I had a pretty decent beginners garden. I was a nervous wreck that I would waste all our money on this venture, but I actually LOVED it! I made several mistakes and learned some valuable lessons about how much room these itty bitty seedlings would eventually need, and I've been vegetable gardening ever since! I've not done much at all with flower gardening, because honestly, if I'm going to sink this much time and energy and money into an endeavor, I'd better get SOMETHING out of it!
More later about lessons learned from my gardens so far