Friday, 30 March 2012

Plant something and nurture it

A few years ago, I read an article on the BBC News website. Titled Path to true happiness 'revealed', it summarised the results of an experiment carried out to try and improve happiness levels. You can read all about it and see the 10 steps to happiness in the link above. I was so taken with the list that I printed it out and placed a copy on my desk at work and another at home.

Top of the list is "Plant something and nurture it". I must admit that although I'm very good at planting things I'm not so good at the nurturing side. I have a tendency to lose interest once something has sprouted, especially if it needs constant repotting. However I do get an enormous feeling of satisfaction from seeing a little row of pots all full of seedings.

I find it amazing to think that one day you can take a tiny brown seed which has been kept in an old tin in the garage for a couple of years, put it in a pot with some soil and water, and a week or so later you have a bright green seedling, stretching up towards the sun.

Simple plant seedling in a pot

My biggest problem is that I tend to go a bit mad, for example by planting about twenty tomato seeds. I can't bear to throw out the weaker seedlings, so I continue to grow all of them, meaning that I'm constantly running about repotting into larger pots, filling windowsills with huge planters, and struggling to keep up with removing the side shoots. Then we go away for the weekend, they don't get watered for a few days, my poor spindly plants all die, and it's a relief to chuck them all in the bin and promise to try harder the next year.  

Now that I've got a Harry to help me out, let's see how I get on this year!

5 comments:

  1. Just remember to WATER and all will be good.

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    1. I know, I know, that's always where it all falls apart.

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  2. I never take out the weaker seedlings. I've just given them to my parents to nurture instead. I always plant way too many. Have fun. :)

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    1. It just seems to cruel to go to all the effort of growing the seedlings, and then just throw them away!

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  3. The trouble with gardening is that it's just like housework, you can't do it all at once you have to keep maintaining things. I'm very good at planting loads of things and then just forgetting all about them. I've never been very good with bulbs, luckily both of the gardens in the houses we've lived in have been well planted up by previous owners!

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