Monday, September 3, 2007

A Green Thumb I Have Not!

Whew, it's been a week since I last posted anything and to me that's like an eternity. I normally post something, intelligent or otherwise within the span of at least 3 days, so one whole week is pretty long for me. I've just been too busy with work and also with some personal stuff happening around me that writing a post was the last thing on my mind. Now that I've got all my stuff more or less sorted out, I can get back to my regular schedule of posting stuff.

And now that I do have the time to post, I have no idea what to write. Maybe I'll just relate my experience with gardening (yes, don't adjust that monitor, you read right). First of all, let me tell you, I'm not the gardening type, I don't think I've ever held on to any gardening tools in my life ... LOL! I love having a nice garden full of gloriously blooming flowers and hedges but I've no interest in doing them myself.

A few weeks back, not really weeks, maybe about two months back, the wife bought this, urmm, mixed flower seeds (the packed kind) to plant. She also bought a small little flower pot to put the seeds in cos she said once they start growing a little, she'll transfer them to the front yard where they'll (supposedly) bloom into charming beautiful flowers of various kinds. Apparently the seeds were supposed to show some signs of sprouting in a day or two.

Well, true to its advertising, the seeds did grow in 2 days time There was this tiny little shoot sticking its head out of the soil and the wife was ecstatic. I was kind of impressed that the things actually grew. The wife was painstakingly taking care of it for the next couple weeks or so but the seeds only grew up to about half an inch or so and kinda started fading away after that. So the wife decided to give up on them and threw the whole thing away. I was laughing my head off (sorry honey ... hehehe).

Right after that, I jokingly told the wife, maybe she didn't have a green thumb (which in fact she does cos back in her hometown, she has ton's of flowers and plants of various kind that she has successfully nurtured). I told her that maybe she didn't do it right and she said 'why don't you try growing them instead of talking so much!' (LOL) So, I took her up on her challenge. After all, it couldn't be that hard to make some miserable flower seeds grow, rite? (and Adrian, you don't laugh okay!)

I took the pot that she abandoned and cleared it out, added some fertilized soil into it and sprinkled a healthy amount of seeds into it. Then the process of waiting for it to grow began. Again, in two days, I saw some signs of new life, I was on cloud nine. I showed it to the wife and boasted about my gardening prowess. She gave me this, wait and see look. I watered the little seedlings every single day enthusiastically (remember, this is the guy who never touched a gardening utensil or did any gardening in his entire life). In a week, the shoots were now about an inch tall, much taller than the wife's effort earlier. The wife had to admit that they looked promising ... hehehe ... and I started to believe I was a gardening genius .. LOL!

Before I went to work everyday, I gave specific instructions to the wife to water them at 1.00pm precisely. I even called her check if she did water them ... hehehe ... I even wished them good morning when I got up every day (the first time this happened the wife thought I was loosing it). I came home from work and after the usual welcome home hug from the wife, I'd head to the room and start talking to the little 'fellows'. I'd water them again and ask them if mommy had watered them in the afternoon or not ... (yeah, the wife was on the verge of sending me to the mental ward ... LOL). I was so into getting them to grow and prove to the wife that I had a better green thumb than her.

By week two they grew to about 2 inches in height and that's when it decided not to grow anymore. No matter how much I talked to them, sang to them (yes, I did sing to them), coaxed them, but they refused to grow anymore. They started to wilt eventually and I was so bloody pissed with them. How ungrateful of them, after all the things I did for them, fed them, gave them an education, gave them a roof over their head and they go and start wilting out on me ... the cheek of them! LOL!

Eventually they started dying and the wife just threw them away. And there ended my endeavour with gardening. The wife was pretty smug with herself about my failed attempt at gardening. I was devastated (well, not really, but it adds a sense of drama to this post). The thing is I was so perplexed as to why it didn't grow, everything seemed fine, I did all the things the instructions on the seed packet said to do, and yet nothing happened. The soil was right, the conditions were right, the location were right ... siigggghhhh ... maybe it was the singing.

Instead of throwing the seeds, my wife decided to give it to my mom. My mom is basically the one who takes care of the front yard garden in my house. So my mom went and planted the seeds and what do you know, after a few weeks the bloody things actually grew. Flowers even sprouted from them! (yeah, that picture at the top is the actual picture of the flower I took) I was like totally pissed with them seeds! Maybe it just needed the motherly touch to it I guess. When my wife told me a few days back that the seeds she gave to my mom actually produced a flower, I just had to relate my failed attempt at gardening here. Oh well, at least I know I'll never make it as a gardener if I ever do give up Advertising ... LOL!

32 comments:

  1. He he he, wishing them good morning it seems! You crack me up! But at least yours lasted a tad bit longer than wifey's LOL! :)

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  2. It seems that some people can grow plants and some can not. Life is that way, we all have things we can do and things we can not do.

    I do not know how your singing voice is but next time just talk to them, They may not like your choice of songs! :)))

    I like your Blog.

    Kyle keeton

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  3. Marzie, I was just trying to be polite to them what ... LOL! I read somewhere that being nice to your plants can make a world of difference but obviously these little buggers were an ungrateful lot !!! LOL!

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  4. Kyle & Svet, Welcome to my blog :) I have to agree with you that some people just don't have it in them to do certain things.

    Yeah, you could be right, my singing voice sticks ... LOL!

    Hope to see you around more often.

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  5. i used to love gardening, it always hurt me when my mom had to send some flowers i nurtured, that was her livelihood and my family's actually, i don't believe so much in that "green thumb thingy", sometimes we just get too much excited about some beautiful plants that we overcare for them, i think you can try again, well at least some seeds grew up, you can still ask for seeds again in the next planting season, you really make me laugh with your humorous posts^^

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  6. LOL Thanks for the laughs Nick! I think you made the best of a sorry situation by giving your readers a good chuckle!
    Your Mom mustve done something differently - maybe next time you have the urge to give it a go, you could get some pointers from her? Shed probally be tickled pink to help you out, cause Moms love that kind of stuff!
    Very pretty Zinnia - cant wait for it to be Zinnia time down here, Cheers!

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  7. Urmmm... just stick to advertising la. Leave the gardening to the experts like your mom! Hehehe

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  8. I share your pain, Nick. I think my fingers are black instead of green. :*(

    Stick on to your Advertising! :P

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  9. I feel your pain, I don't have a green thunb either. BTW you've been tagged..

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  10. Loved this post, Nick - you are an awesome storyteller! Those ungrateful flower children just grew for your Mom so they could come back and taunt you! LOL at the photo - hey, that's not a bad idea for a creative flower garden - and so much easier to maintain! :-)

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  11. I have the same issues with plants you do, I try and try and they die and die!
    nice blog you have I'll visit again!
    Peace.....

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  12. Lordmanilastone, I've given up gardening for good. I'll just stick to what I know best, which is Advertising ... LOL!

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  13. Lavender, oh, so that's what that flower is called. See, I can't even figure out the names of flowers and here I was trying to grow them ... LOL! No wonder they went berserk on me!

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  14. Sweetiepie, urmm, I get the message la .. LOL! Yeah, I think I'll take your advise and stick to what I know best. I should take that as sign that gardening and me don't go well together ... LOL!

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  15. Cindy, oh good, at least I have company in the black thumb club ... LOL! Maybe next time I'll try messing around with the plumbing instead ...

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  16. Diamond, welcome to the Black Thumb club. Memberships is at half price for the opening special ... LOL!

    Thanx for the tag, gonna check it out right after this ...

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  17. Josie, glad you had a good laugh :) Hmm, you're on to something there. Maybe I'll just grow them online or something ... LOL!

    You bet those ungrateful flowers grew just so they could haunt me before I leave for work ... LOL!

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  18. Sugar queens dream, welcome to my blog and thanx for the compliment. That was my one and only foray into the realm of gardening. I've hung up my gardening tools for good ... LOL!

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  19. There, there, just because your Momma kicked your ass. It's OK. It's still a very pretty flower.

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  20. Anonymous Boxer, yeah, you could say my momma kicked my ass ... LOL! Every time I see that flower, I feel like going and stomping on it ... LOL!

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  21. Nick- Buddy you crack me up! The talking to the plants and singing I understand, but why the 1:00p.m. exact watering time? Great post! I am still laughing! Glad your back!

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  22. Maybe he thinks 1.00pm has better sun penetration force??! Ah, from now on, I'll water my plants at 1.00pm! LOL

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  23. Hey Nick,

    Just enjoy mom taking care of the yard. She's got the touch. You, OTOH have a knack for storytelling :)

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  24. I do not have a green thumb either. After I killed a Cactus, I gave up the idea of ever growing ANYTHING ever again!

    ps... if I went a WHOLE week without posting I might have seizure type withdraawls!

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  25. Hi Nick,

    Ha ha ha, this is something I too failed in (miserably at that too)...why can't we ever get it right??? But, there comes along Dad, who without much trouble, grows everything in a jiffy!

    PS : You should have tried singing some tamil songs (notice in the tamil movies when they sing, it's always around beautiful flowers and gardens...that's the secret, I tell you!!)

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  26. Barrett - Actually I have no idea why I asked the wife to water them at exactly 1.00pm ... LOL! It seemed like a good time to water them though ... LOL!

    Hey, glad you're up and about!

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  27. Nessa, Better sun penetration force? Where the heck did you get that one up ... LOL! But sounds real scientific like la ... maybe I'll go give that reason to Barrett, it might make me sound intelligent, oh drat, I replied his comment already ... LOL! There goes my chance to sound like am intelligent guy ... LOL!

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  28. Menopauseprincess, that sound like some might sound advise :) Story telling huh? I just might give that a try, now how the heck do I start? LOL!

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  29. meleah, you killed a cactus???? How do you even begin to kill a cactus??? I'd sure like to know ... LOL!

    Oh, trust me, I had seizure type withdrawals ... LOL!

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  30. Hey Nihal, that's it, that's the secret to growing beautiful flowers. Why didn't I think of that ... LOL! Buddy, that was good one :)

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  31. Buddy! You never had a green thumb but I'm so glad you tried! In fact you should give it another shot! Planting from seeds is not easy...I might try it some day! LOL

    You know how I love a beautiful garden but for the life of me can't make things grow. (PS My mum had a green thumb too!) I prefer to go to Sungai Buloh to ge the ready made kind LOL and the maid takes care of watering nowadays! I rather spend time with the little one and when she's older I'll try to teach her a little gardening too!

    I never told you this but while we was in the US I used to help our friends there plant bulbs and the pictures they sent us of the flowers were magnificent. Can't seem to get the smae results here LOL

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  32. Buddy, I've given up trying grow anything! I'm just gonna do what you do, go to Sungai Buloh and buy them flowers. Much easier than trying to grow them ... LOL!

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