editors' tips: faking a green thumb
All the kids on my block called my mom Wonder Woman. She had the black hair, the blue eyes, the waist the size of some women's thighs, the invisible jet... But her true superpower was her green thumb, which was to me kryptonite. We lived in the city with a small yard but she managed to garden most of our veggies, grapes, honeysuckle, sunflowers, a gorgeous rose garden and dozens of other seemingly exotic varieties...it was her passion. She even composted!!
When I moved to NYC in the early '90s I announced to her that I was sharing a little plot in a public east village garden. She reminded me that the last time she saw me "gardening" was around 1982, lying in the tall grass in HER orange bikini, telephone cord stretched to the max, gardening shears tossed somewhere in the vicinity. (I missed my allowance that week but my tan was savage.)
Time passed and I abandoned my gardening fantasies considering them in the same way I thought of fashion...maybe you just had to get new stuff every season. So when they stopped looking fresh and fashionable I tossed them and bought more. (The only plant this doesn't apply to is the cactus, the "little black dress" of plant life because you really can't kill it...although I have.)
The bottom line here is that I need help. And so I created a system for myself that a kindergartener could follow: stickers on a chart and on the pot of corresponding plant - it's that embarrassingly simple. Yellow stickers for lots of sun, blue for lots of water, and so on. It helps to have them on a monthly calendar (specific dates don't matter) just so I know to check on certain plants daily, weekly, or monthly. As you can see, it's working...
Have a tip or trick to share? Email us!
Comments