People who don't grow ANYTHING at all?

[Gardener123]

This is not an indictment of people at all, but do you - as a gardener - find it a little strange that there are people who grow nothing at all?

I'm not talking about planting herbs, veggies, and fruits. I just found out that one of my neighbors doesn't even have a houseplant of any kind in her home. We were chatting, and the only things she has growing on her property are whatever the builder planted when her home was built.

So here's a snippet ( paraphrased ) of our conversation:

Her: I heard you are building a greenhouse. Really?

Me: Yep, and I can't wait to start growing stuff in there! ( all excited by the thought of it )

Her: I would rather live in the city and have a concrete back yard and buy my friut and veggies at the grocery store.

Me: Really? I mean I know gardening takes work, but what I grow tastes SO MUCH better than what I get at the grocery store.

Her: Yeah, but the stuff I buy tastes good enough for me. Rob ( her husband ) would love to grow all kinds of things, and I would rather pull everything down so I don't have to take care of it.

So when she said that, I kind of looked around her house from where we stood, and sure enough, there wasn't even a houseplant of any kind!

So this post is meant to be in fun, but now I need to keep an eye on her.... who knows how nutty she really is?

[webmaster]

Well, we're all a sum of all our experiences. Some of us seek out experiences while for others experience is something that happens. If she grew up in the city without a garden or perhaps associates it with work and not pleasure, then she might be inclined to be that way because she has no idea at all about gardening or she has the wrong idea.

I'm the same way about skiing. No exposure and no idea of the fun involved. But because of all the accidents I heard about, probably have the wrong idea of skiing. Not really inclined to pursue the hobby. I have other hobbies to occupy my time with.

I've always had plants in and outdoors, all my adult life. I grew up in the city so it was sometimes challenging.

[rainbowgardener]

well .... I am a gardening nut, gardening is most of what I do and most of what I think about. (I woke up this AM dreaming I was teaching a course on seed starting!) But it is not how I grew up. My parents got divorced and my mom was then a single working mom (this was way back when, when that was rare and frowned on, lot of people wouldn't associate with her any more, because she was a divorcee). She dealt with that by having the front lawn ripped out, the ground poisoned, and gravel put down, with a few little plants around the edges to make it not quite so ugly. And no we had not one single houseplant. And she never cooked again, we ate frozen TV dinners (which were a new product back then).

I grew up to be the kind of mother I wished I had.... And none of the skills I have now (re gardening, cooking or any of the other things I do) did I learn growing up. You don't have to be what you grew up with.

Perhaps in harvest season you can gift your neighbor with some of your garden grown veggies. Perhaps as she sees you working she will start to understand that it isn't just drudgery you do for the sake of the end product, but that you love being out in your garden.

[Gardener123]

Just so everybody knows, the story was true, but the thought behind the story was meant - mostly - in jest.

My dad went to farm school, but was never a farmer, though he did plant a patch of veggies that was maybe 200SF every year. I never cared about planting anything myself until many years after he passed away. I'm 50 now, and I didn't start really gardening until I was 30 - 35 years old. I thought I was really good at it, but it turns out that most likely I just had great soil.

Now, I actively garden, and mostly love it..... It is hard for me to accept plant failure, LOL.

And I am no fan of raw tomatoes, but last year I grew some heirlooms, and they were just wonderful. So good, in fact, that I was actually enjoying eating raw tomatoes. I hate the junk they try to sell us in stores. Bland, and never really "good".

[Dillbert]

>>skiing
webbie - find a bunny slope, take a lesson or two, go skiing.
it's lots of fun. use your haid - if it seems a stupid idea on the slope, likely _is_ a stupid idea, don't go there.
most accidents are made up of poor decisions.

>>people who do not . . .
our oldest was 4 when she started helping me in the garden.
we had neighbors - those kids believed chocolate milk came from the brown cows.... I once asked "so what do they do with all the black milk?" but they had no answer.

pull a carrot, or shell a pea pod, their eyes literally left their sockets - they had cable and they had no idea.

I often wondered what would happen if I shipped them off the the farm when the pigs were being castrated . . . .

[Susan W]

There are those who just don't do houseplants, and can even kill silk plants. Both of my dil's have a mild form of this.

A variation of this, and I hear it most weeks at the farmers market. I have a nice selection of fresh cut herbs. A comment might be that person tried to grow herb a, b or e, and didn't do well, and walks on. Now if one tried to grow oregano for example, and it didn't do, think would want some, fresh picked all the better! Or points out several does have going, but doesn't venture to try some others. Whatever!

[Ech]

Well my main issue with store bought food is often, it is not food. And I can imagine why you never cared for raw tomato if you only bought them from the store. See, those are usually a genetic modification of an heirloom. The problem with this is, for the most part, they are water, not food. Adds more weight, more weight, more money. Also, most of the tomatoes in the US come from Florida which is one of the absolute worst environments for growing tomatoes. I guess it works out since they never get a chance to ripen anyway. The are picked green and sent to some monstrosity of a gas chamber where the pigment is added. Kinda like eating hair dye if you ask me. This year I am growing sever heirlooms although I have 2 hybrids but not GMO. If I may make a recomendation, try Purple Russians. They produce large fruits which are absolutely delicious. Also Chocolate Cherrys are super sweet and one plant will produce more then you can imagine.

[Dillbert]

you don't have to look so far as Florida for questionable tactics.

we've lived in and around the "greater Philadelphia area" - greater is a geographic term, it's not really so great.... anyway I meself personally have seen trucks coming from south Jersey loaded up with boxes proudly proclaiming "Vine Ripened Jersey Tomatoes" the stuff you could see through the holes in the boxes could not have been more green.

next, there is no dye / pigment. put in an atmosphere with ethylene gas the tomatoes turn red. frankly I'm not sure that can be remotely considered "ripening" - just a color change. ethylene gas is a 150% "natural" thing - it's behind the 'put a banana in a paper bag' thing.

there are OTR trailers adapted to saturating the interior with ethylene gas - making them turn color enroute to the fake grocery store.

tomatoes varieties adapted to the commercial trade are selected for a lot of reasons, and taste is not one of them. they must all ripen at the same time. uniform size. thick skins / maximum 'resistance' to mechanical handling damage.

there is no comparison to a home garden grown / ripened tomato.

[Ohio Tiller]

I drive by places all the time and I look for gardens and it just shocks me how many places with giant back yards have nothing but mowed grass and I always think Man I would love to get my tiller in that!

[valley]

dillbert, Your reference to: >>>skiing? Do your ski? Or was this a lesson in logic?

I grew up on a ranch where we lived from what we raised and had growing. I didn't learn all my folks knew. I met my wife on the slopes, I was her ski instructor, she is a pro skier now. We have two places where we grow mostly food crop and each year the crop gets larger. We and our children are see this as a one of the best parts of life.

I, we, are amazed when we meet someone who doesn't wish to grow at least some of their needs. In the area of the lower ranch we see houses ,where you can tell the people park their car, go inside and watch TV, there is nothing outside, Nothing, and they have land. That sadly interesting.

Likewise, It is pleasure to see one who are love and understand plants and animals and their relationship to their lives.

Excuse the lopsided photo, working on posting pictures.

[Dillbert]

>>skiing

it was a mixed content posting. there was some trepidation based on the risks of skiing.
it's fun. tad on the expensive side as hobbies go. yes- I/we/kids/family ski - New England, some Canada, bit of the Swiss Alps.

>>lesson
it's pretty simple. stay within your lines. skiing, skating, skydiving, snorkeling, scuba, sailing - pick an activity. there are few activities which present zero danger to life and/or limb. I'm an avid skier; pretty aggressive on a timed course; but no, not jumping out of a helo at 17,000 feet and flying off rock ledges with no idea what's on the (non-existent ) other side just for kicks - not going there.

inexperience in a sport and/or the degree of the sport can very quickly make for lethal danger.

>>stay within your lines
bit like gardening.... "I've never had a garden but I've just tilled up 2,000 sq feet, now what?" thing.

gardening is not something every single person is "into" - facts of life I guess.
curiously, in an extensive survey done many years ago, "gardening" was cited as _the_ most popular hobby. with (how many million) people and (how many million) computers, . . . . where they is?

downloaded and flipped the pix - ahhhh,,,, what is it?

[valley]

It is a madur. Our family chapel at the mountain ranch.

We've skiied in Canada, Taking any road from here would lead to a ski area before starting down leaving the mountains.

Richard

[gmp]

yes, I am living with such kind of people. Here in singapore, "we get apples from the supermarket" this will be the answer from most of the children. I don't expect such kind of answers from my kids. That's why I wanted to start atleast a container garden to show them that what we eat are from plants. Though my parents are retired teachers, we had a good garden around our house. We had so many things. I feel very unlucky to stay in an apartment. Even if I have to spray neem oil I must think about my neighbour first(though they are good). No cows, no goats nothing. We must go to a zoo to see these kind of stuff. That's why my kids always loves to go to their grand parents home. garden, swing, farm animals, moonlight dinners wow! thats a lot. I too miss all those things.

[RamonaGS]

Most of the people I met and know who don't grow anything, is because they swear they can't. They swear they kill everything they plant. My one friend swears she killed succulents before. I offered to help, but they swear it's no use, lol My one friend has resorted to painting pretty flowers on garden stones to have flowers in her yard. LOL!

[rainbowgardener]

yeah, its interesting about that green thumb/ black thumb thing. I never used to believe in it and always said a green thumb is just knowledge and experience. But sometimes I wonder... it does seem like I stick things in the ground (or a pot) and don't do anything to them and they grow. People write in here and it seems like they are doing everything right, taking much more care than I do and nothing grows for them, or they have horrible plagues of every bug and disease known to science. Scientifically, I don't believe it, but emotionally it does seem like it is just harder for some people.

[LA47]

I have a friend that lives not far from me. She doesn't gow any vegetables but does have flower beds. She works so hard on them but seems to battle more weeds and bugs than I have ever had! I can't figure it out.

[gumbo2176]

I have friends and family like that. No matter how much I try to encourage them to give gardening a shot, they claim they just don't have the time, want to make the effort, know nothing about it, etc. The excuses come fast and furious-----------but they all say that the things they are given from my garden taste sooooo much better than store bought produce. I guess it's all good when someone else makes the effort.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have a good friend that lives on several acres in rural Mississippi and I convinced him to make a vegetable garden. The first year he did, he asked me over for some advice since he was having issues. I was completely taken aback when I arrived at his place and saw he had at least a quarter acre plot going. He was getting overwhelmed by weeds, watering, crop failures, bad production etc. I advised him to tone it down considerably in size, use mulches to help with weeds and moisture retention, use his fence line to grow things like cucumbers & pole beans, companion plant things like chard between tomato plants to help shade it when it got hot, etc. I now have a convert with a nice garden, especially in the fall when the weather down our way is better suited to working a garden.

[RamonaGS]

Gumbo, That sounds exactly like something my brother would do, LOL!

[Cola82]

As a person whose mother always claimed to have a Black Thumb, I just kind of assumed I always did, too. Now I have my boyfriend's mother--who somehow manages to work full time and help raise her grand daughter and still have a massive property brimming with beautiful trees, flowers, herbs, and vegetables--telling me I have "the touch." Mostly this is because I got some hydrangea cuttings to root, which she's never done before. But honestly, I just never tried. Also, I have the benefit of the Internet to fill in all the gaps in my knowledge. There's still trial and error, but I can anticipate most of the issues before they become a problem.

Without a lot of experience, not enough time to devote to research, and not a lot of financial resources, failure is extremely discouraging. It doesn't seem so much "trail and error" as "I don't have time to keep going back to the gardening supply store for new plants and putting them in pots if they're just going to keep dying." So, if Black Thumbs really are a thing, they're probably a combination of low experience and zero confidence. It's easier to chalk it up to a lack of skill.

That said, my boyfriend is completely useless around the house. He has no coordination and his spatial reasoning is terrible, so I do all of the handy man stuff, like fixing lights and assembling furniture. I've watched him cut cakes and casseroles with his wrist at a weird angle and his fingers mostly rigid so that the utensil is always slipping out of his hand and I just cringe. I also can't handle watching him pack bags at the store, because he mostly just awkwardly paws things into place. He is 100% useless with a screwdriver. It's a good thing his profession doesn't call for any manual dexterity, because he would get himself killed working in a factory. He's plenty intelligent, but he's also all thumbs and left feet. So, that's my anecdotal evidence that some people just aren't good at some things.

[gumbo2176]

As a person whose mother always claimed to have a Black Thumb, I just kind of assumed I always did, too. Now I have my boyfriend's mother--who somehow manages to work full time and help raise her grand daughter and still have a massive property brimming with beautiful trees, flowers, herbs, and vegetables--telling me I have "the touch." Mostly this is because I got some hydrangea cuttings to root, which she's never done before. But honestly, I just never tried. Also, I have the benefit of the Internet to fill in all the gaps in my knowledge. There's still trial and error, but I can anticipate most of the issues before they become a problem.

Without a lot of experience, not enough time to devote to research, and not a lot of financial resources, failure is extremely discouraging. It doesn't seem so much "trail and error" as "I don't have time to keep going back to the gardening supply store for new plants and putting them in pots if they're just going to keep dying." So, if Black Thumbs really are a thing, they're probably a combination of low experience and zero confidence. It's easier to chalk it up to a lack of skill.

That said, my boyfriend is completely useless around the house. He has no coordination and his spatial reasoning is terrible, so I do all of the handy man stuff, like fixing lights and assembling furniture. I've watched him cut cakes and casseroles with his wrist at a weird angle and his fingers mostly rigid so that the utensil is always slipping out of his hand and I just cringe. I also can't handle watching him pack bags at the store, because he mostly just awkwardly paws things into place. He is 100% useless with a screwdriver. It's a good thing his profession doesn't call for any manual dexterity, because he would get himself killed working in a factory. He's plenty intelligent, but he's also all thumbs and left feet. So, that's my anecdotal evidence that some people just aren't good at some things.

Cola, you are describing my 28 yr. old step-son to a tee. He is scary intelligent, but completely useless with the tools most of us take for granted to do constructive things with. He told me recently he wants to get a fixer-upper when he buys a house. I told him he needs to have a good contractor on retainer if he does that because it will fall to shambles if left to him to repair even the simplest of things.

[RamonaGS]

That's my father too! He was an engineer for United Space Alliance, but could not hammer a nail straight. He could design a satellite, but when he built a sunroom on his house, I was worried about people going out there and sitting in it. I asked my stepmother (who was also an engineer, but with more sense than my father) if it looked safe to her, and to my relief she said he used a nail gun instead of a hammer...Whew! But...he does know how to grow vegetables, LOL!

[Cola82]

I find men like that weirdly adorable.

Thankfully the boyfriend is under no illusions about his abilities. ;p

[RamonaGS]

My partner is handy with the repairs, he's the superintendent/property manager. Where he falls short is lighting the BBQ grill, but he gets impatient and starts it while I'm at the store. He's admitted to me that he wasted a whole box of matches because he kind of got the charcoal lit and started throwing handfuls of matches at it. I was kind of surprised by that so I asked him "Why?" and he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know..." He has learned though, the last time he tried to light the BBQ he got it going pretty good. The flaw that time was he didn't add enough charcoal, so I had to figure out how to add more and light it without burning myself and putting out the existing fire, LOL It's all good, I would gladly take him and his inability to make flame along with everything working in the house, LOL!

[LA47]

My husband is the prime example of a all round handy man, and can do so much, mechanical, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc. BUT he has never gardened and figures you just put the seeds in the ground and water. He is trying to help me and is enjoying it to but I'm always walking on egg shells trying to nicely tell him that he is drowning the tomatoes so then he just barely wets the soil so I'm trying to tell him how to water deeply, then let it dry out but, then had to explain new plants need frequent water because he almost killed the carrot seedlings doing what I told him!
I think that some of the people that don't garden thinks like my DH did and then, when the plants fail, they are too discouragedd to try again. A few generations ago, people did most things themselves, from growing and preserving their own food, clothing, mechanical work...mainly self-sufficient. Now days everything is bought or hired done. My grandkids feel that they've put in their 8 hours of work and the rest of the time should be play time. Gardening to some people, is work, not an enjoyable hobby with rewards of getting great food.

[gumbo2176]

My husband is the prime example of a all round handy man, and can do so much, mechanical, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc. BUT he has never gardened and figures you just put the seeds in the ground and water. He is trying to help me and is enjoying it to but I'm always walking on egg shells trying to nicely tell him that he is drowning the tomatoes so then he just barely wets the soil so I'm trying to tell him how to water deeply, then let it dry out but, then had to explain new plants need frequent water because he almost killed the carrot seedlings doing what I told him!
I think that some of the people that don't garden thinks like my DH did and then, when the plants fail, they are too discouragedd to try again. A few generations ago, people did most things themselves, from growing and preserving their own food, clothing, mechanical work...mainly self-sufficient. Now days everything is bought or hired done. My grandkids feel that they've put in their 8 hours of work and the rest of the time should be play time. Gardening to some people, is work, not an enjoyable hobby with rewards of getting great food.

That basically describes me as far as all around handy man. I do most of my own mechanical work on my cars and trucks, do it all on my motorcycle, lawn equipment etc. The problem with newer vehicles is the amount of specialty equipment to simply diagnose what is wrong. Most of that is out of reach for the shade tree mechanic.

I am the gardener and have a nice plot in my back yard for vegetables and some fruit and have gotten ambitious with a front yard bordered garden for flowers that I've gotten quite a few compliments on.

I'm retired and my wife is still employed full time, so I do all the cooking, house cleaning, clothes washing, etc. When I was a fireman, those type things were done daily around the engine house and no wives were there to do it for us, so it is just another thing to do.

Funny story, when my wife and I first started dating she came to my house with one of her lady friends. They had a little something to eat, a few drinks and I gave her the tour of the house. After they left and my then girlfriend got back home, she called me. She said her friend has concerns about me. She told her I was either still married or gay because single men don't keep their houses that neat. I was neither, by the way. Just a happy divorcee looking for love----------------and found it with the lady that became my current and last my wife.

[RamonaGS]

My husband is the prime example of a all round handy man, and can do so much, mechanical, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc. BUT he has never gardened and figures you just put the seeds in the ground and water. He is trying to help me and is enjoying it to but I'm always walking on egg shells trying to nicely tell him that he is drowning the tomatoes so then he just barely wets the soil so I'm trying to tell him how to water deeply, then let it dry out but, then had to explain new plants need frequent water because he almost killed the carrot seedlings doing what I told him!
I think that some of the people that don't garden thinks like my DH did and then, when the plants fail, they are too discouragedd to try again. A few generations ago, people did most things themselves, from growing and preserving their own food, clothing, mechanical work...mainly self-sufficient. Now days everything is bought or hired done. My grandkids feel that they've put in their 8 hours of work and the rest of the time should be play time. Gardening to some people, is work, not an enjoyable hobby with rewards of getting great food.

I think you are right, that they get discouraged, and stop trying, lol Sounds like he was of the mind if some is good more is better. My stepfather has a hard time with the idea that not everything can be grown in a container, or that the container has to be bigger for certain plants. My mom told me he tried to grow corn in one gallon sized flower pots. He figured it worked for the strawberries... LOL!

I think a lot of people in my generation have lost that self sufficiency. My friends my age are amazed at all the things I can do, and they refer to me as a "frontiers woman" and I remind them, these are all skills our grandparents had. But remembering back I think those skills were lost, because our parents knew how to do all those things, but never used them. Everytime I learn something new like making pickles, or homemade jam, knitting, cooking pies, or anything, my mom gets nostalgic and says, "Oh I used to do that too!" but she never even cooked when I was growing up. And most of my friend's parents were the same way, so we never had anyone teach us unless it was our grandparents. Which is really sad if people our age can't afford to pay for something.

Hey Gumbo, Fortunately for you, your wife did not listen to her friend, LOL!

[gumbo2176]

Hey Gumbo, Fortunately for you, your wife did not listen to her friend, LOL!

You bet. But I was ready to slap her friend with my purse if she would have kept it up.

[RamonaGS]

You bet. But I was ready to slap her friend with my purse if she would have kept it up.

Now THAT'S the way a man settles a conflict!

[rainbowgardener]

I do most of my own mechanical work on my cars and trucks, do it all on my motorcycle, lawn equipment etc.... I am the gardener ... vegetables and some fruit and ...flowers ... I do all the cooking, house cleaning, clothes washing, etc. ..

Oh man gumbo ... if you weren't already married, I would marry you myself!

[Ohio Tiller]

I wish I had gotten my Grandma's green thumb that woman could spit a watermelon seed on a carpet and it would sprout! Women in the area would bring her their dying house plants and she would take care of them for a while and give them back a jungle in a pot!

[mmt]

This is hilarious! Oh yes there are many. My experience is with a Chinese couple that my hubby met. We get invited for a dinner and I brought a beautiful deep blue Aster pot thinking oh she gonna love it!

On the way back at the front door the wife rush back in with "oh wait wait" and she brought back the Aster pot saying "Take it back, I can't look after it. I'll just kill it. Plants never get along with me. I offer "I can help if you want you know?", she said no no no it's not gonna work with me, trust me!

[imafan26]

One of my neighbor's former owners cemented the entire yard. Why bother to have a house if you do that!

There are a lot of people who are not as passionate as we are about growing things. I am a master gardener and I get questions a lot from people who:

Want plants to stay the right size forever, never die, require no maintenance, and can live on rain.

My answer: Get plastic plants, but even they will have to be replaced eventually.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Want plants to stay the right size forever, never die, require no maintenance, and can live on rain

They are called native plants or adapted plants.

Eric

[imafan26]

Native plants can thrive on neglect, you are right! Unfortunately Hawaii has one of the fastest extinction rates for native animals and plants. Mostly due to habit invasion from alien species and the fact that most of the endemic plants here grow slowly, and have no defense against foreign insects, animals (feral pigs and goats), and diseases. The natives that are available are often adapted to specific habitats so do not grow well just anywhere. And the alien plants that are brought in are prettier and grow much faster.

[tomf]

From this link; https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/prog ... on_crisis/

It’s frightening but true: Our planet is now in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals — the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-billion years. We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we’re now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day [1]. It could be a scary future indeed, with as many as 30 to 50 percent of all species possibly heading toward extinction by mid-century [2].