Friday 26 September 2014

Doctor Death

I always kill plants. It's a real problem. A conundrum that genuinely boggles my mind - what am I doing wrong?

Whenever I build up the courage to bring some plants or plowers home to nurture (this is rarely), some unconscious instinct must kick in and, despite reading the enclosed care instructions and actually following them (sometimes I even Google, just to be doubly sure), I am forced to watch the plants cruelly shrivel and die in record time. On some occasions only hours later. It's very deflating. It doesn't help that I name them (we miss you, Tree-bo).

We're not talking cut flowers here - I am confident that they are notorious droopers. I mean real plants that come in pots and don't look like much to start with.

Not only is all this very uneconomical in both money and energy spent, it is also a little worrying - what does it say about me? Am I unstable? Negligent? Irresponsible? I like to think I'm just keen - that it's my enthusiasm that kills them (it's fortunate I don't want to bring children into the world isn't it.)

Overall, my unsuccessful foray into gardening makes me feel incompetent, and embarrassed about my lifestyle generally. How embarrassing that I have managed to grow up into an adult who goes about life totally devoid of any skills, knowledge or real consciousness of the natural world. 

I live very much indoors. As a self-confessed urbanite I am uncomfortable with 'the outdoors' unless it is pre-arranged, meticulously planned, not too sunny, and doesn't last too long. I much prefer if I am enjoying it from the comfort of a car or boutique hotel. I hate this about me. My heritage has clearly gone to waste - my granddad was a keen gardener, and I have wonderful memories of the amazing garden he kept. Still to this day, his peas are the best I've ever tasted. My mom follows in this tradition too. My boss is a renowned horticulturalist for God's sake! So - either I'm unwilling or unable to learn from these artisans. Which is it?

Well, I've certainly noticed I am becoming more interested in gardening and growing in recent years, in the cliched way that people do as they get older. Whilst I'm not going to rush out and buy the box set of The Good Life, I do find I care much more about what I eat now. Where it has come from and how it was grown. I am conscious about taking care of the world I live in, too http://lookingwithmyeyes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/recycled-rage.html I find I want to make things (although I am yet to make anything at all from Kirstie Allsopp's Craft book, nearly 12-months on...)

Perhaps it's just my desire to produce kicking in, with an alternative (to children) version. The fact I've created this blog is already evidence of that shift in me http://booksbywomen.org/coming-back-to-writing/

So, while I am showing willing, it's maybe time to strike while the iron is hot and get tips from these experts I have at my disposal. I should follow the lead of the men in my life, actually. My Dad is a vegetable grower now. And my boyfriend is growing chillies in the flat.

I'll give it a shot. Not that we have a garden... I'll grow basil or something. Make some space on the windowsill (bye, weird Ikea glass orb that is definitely not the vase I thought it was but in fact a totally useless object).

Wish me luck - or rather, wish the plants luck.



PS: One thing I do know about gardening is that I talk aloud to myself regularly, and so with the plants in earshot it is clear that the old wives tale can't be true.

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