All (green) thumbs

Every year since I got out of college (16, for those of you counting), I've had a garden. The first was a small patch that I painstakingly cleared and planted with onions and tomatoes. Three years later, I moved and had a small strip of garden, that was mostly in the shade, which I split into a flowerbed and a tomato and herb bed. In the five years I lived there, I even harvested enough oregano that I was able to give it as Christmas gifts to friends.

When I moved to Nashville, I started with potted tomatoes, then an arugula bed, and have progressed over the years to much larger spaces with everything from watermelons to pumpkins, yellow squash, zucchini, parsley, mint, sage, lavender, tomatoes, cucumbers, loofahs, green beans, soy beans, lentils, corn, peas, beets, radishes, chard, and whatever else I can fit into the space.

I even started a garden at my synagogue...which is turning into a true community garden.

All that said, I can kill a houseplant faster than you can say "potting soil."

I don't kill them right away, and I definitely don't do it on purpose. It's uncanny how I can make an outdoor garden thrive, even in the midst of weeds and invasive insects, and can just as easily over-water or under-water a plant to death in a matter of weeks or months.

I don't remember the name of the movie, but there was a guy who had to keep a plant alive for a year before having a relationship, as part of his addiction recovery. The point of the exercise was to show that he could care for something other than himself in a positive way, in a way that the plant needed.

While I am not an addict, recovering or otherwise, I often focus outwardly. I'd rather work on the garden than clean the inside of the house. I'd rather help someone with their issues than work on my own, and I'd clearly rather do anything than figure out how much water the plants inside my house really need.

I have successfully kept four plants alive for over a year. Two are in my bathroom, an African violet, and a Christmas cactus. Neither have flowered since I first got them three years ago. That might be because they've never been fertilized.

The other two are baskets of houseplants that a friend gave me when she moved 1.5 years ago. Not only are they alive, but they've grown. I put them in a semi-lit spot in my living room, and give them the remains of the glass of water I bring to bed each night.

Of course, since I got those two plants, I've also managed to kill an air plant, an orchid and am on the way to doing away with two of three papaya seedlings I got over the summer.

Still those two plants in my living room give me hope. They make me believe that I will be able to give others in my life just enough light and space and nourishment.