Growing a green thumb

"I am not a gardener."

"I have a black thumb." 

I've heard these words so many times, and even said them myself. I was essentially saying, "Don't have your expectations too high when it comes to me growing plant life!" One thing I've always been confident in is my seed growing ability though. It doesn't require much, you basically put some seeds in dirt, water them with a spray bottle, and watch the seedlings pop up in a couple of weeks or less. This I could do. 

Transplanted yellow squash

But something changed recently. Every year Daddy grows tomatoes, as well as a few other veggies of his choosing. It is an understood fact that I will do nothing but pick and cook the fruit of his labors; I love the fact that he gets that! This year, Daddy decided that he would plant vegetables at our rental house and in the yard of an agreeable close friend...AND that he would start selling seedling trees from our backyard. After buying the dormant little trees and planting them he realized something: he needed to connect with buyers. He immediately thought of his daughter who constantly mentions things about blogs and instagrams, and Face books online (it's really like this y'all.) The rest is history.

 I bought some organic seeds and began to plant them in egg cartons to keep them from getting hit by a late (for the south) frost, and I jumped online and started setting up ebay, paypal, craigslist, instagram, and twitter accounts. With each seedling tree I listed, I had to google all about them. In the meantime my squash plants were growing quickly, and starting to lean on their spindly little stems. I called my aunt and asked her when I should plant them and she said, "Right now!". She gave me explicit instructions about the sun and soil and depth...

Basically, I found out that it isn't about having a green thumb. It's about having the diligence and care to commit to a project until it's finished. I had a black thumb before, because it didn't benefit me to check out five books from the library about every aspect of vegetable growing and seedling health--like I currently have.

 I've grown a green thumb! You can too, but it's gonna be work! Are you ready?

See what dad has going on over on Instagram if you'd like!