Green thumb

My grandma on my mom's side was an avid gardener. Every plant she touched thrived and was vibrantly alive. Patricia had a full flower garden and at the time when cancer was found in her, 12 house plants. This love of gardening somehow passed effortlessly on to my mom who cared for the 12 house plants after her mom was stolen from her at the age of 17. Though my mom "killed," as she would say, the plants her mom could no longer tend, she still found joy in the green life that sprang from the ground with the effort of her hands and a smile from God. My mom has gardened all my life and I have seen many tears shed over squirrels stealing her tomatoes, raccoons traipsing through her herbs, and dogs peeing on her plum trees. But the joy gardening brings my mom makes her exuberance for life shine through even more. But the best part? I too have acquired this gardening gene. What started as my first job working for an elder lady in my cul-de-sac watering her roses, geraniums, and all sorts of random twisting trees has turned into something deeper. I feel it in my blood; the call to get my hands dirty and grow something beautiful. Last year in my apartment I could resist the call no longer. So even though in a 3 story apartment, I decided that I needed to get my green on. I bought a basil plant and it thrived in the window, soaking up all the sun and bringing LIFE to my living room and fresh basil to my sandwiches and marinara sauce.

Before I left home to finish my senior year and get my bachelors in science my mom and I gardened together. I had decided that I wanted to expand my "garden" and start growing more things in my appartment window, and the day we gardened we were going to begin that venture. My mom had an aloe plant that we could separate and make into two plants, one of which will travel with me back up to Cal Poly and sit in my window. The whole time it felt very natural to be out in the sun getting a lesson from my mom in gardening. One day I intend to have my very own garden and I can't wait to continue what is getting to be a tradition of green thumbery! On my current "garden" wish-list is a rosemary plant because I love the smell and it is a useful herb in cooking.