No such thing as a ‘green thumb’

I want to be the first to say it - I do not have a green thumb! I do not have some mystical way with plants (though that does sound incredibly cool!). Everything I currently know how to do, I did not used to know how to do. Actually, ok fine, I have a green thumb or two NOW, but that was hard earned over the last decade.

I will admit, however, to having a bit of a head start with gardening given that my mother is an avid flower gardener who dabbled with a vegetable garden when I was a child. I fondly remember picking green beans and raspberries while surrounded by my mother’s massive flower gardens. I’m sure just growing up with my always-in-the-garden mom would have given me enough of a basic understanding of how to grow plants, but I didn’t truly learn to grow vegetables until much later.

When I was 25, I moved to London, England for graduate school. I ended up marrying a Brit (hi Pete!) and staying in London for four and a half years. I adore London and love going back to visit, but one thing was abundantly clear while I was living in an apartment in the city - I missed plants. I promised myself that whenever I moved out of the city, whether I stay in the UK or return to the US, I was going to start a garden.

So, when Pete and I moved to Rochester, NY (where I grew up) in 2013, I took action on my promise. However, we were renting an apartment with a tiny backyard without much sun. Plus, I knew there was a lot more for me to learn, so I joined a community garden with approximately 15 other folks. Thankfully, a few of the garden members were very experienced and very happy to share their knowledge. (Thank you Melissa!!). True to my learning-obsessed nature, I asked an annoying amount of questions about what to do and why. And, like a sponge soaking up the knowledge, I started to develop my ‘green thumb’.

After a couple years at the community garden, my husband and I bought a house whose previous owner was a Master Gardener. The house came with three large compost piles, and multiple veggie garden plots. This first house is where I really started to dive deep into how to grow vegetables, and how to do so in Rochester, NY with our very short - and often unpredictable - season. I’d say, the years spent in this house is where I went from being an advanced beginner vegetable gardener to and intermediate one. In other words, my thumbs got greener. I started growing my gardening library, and learning about permaculture and mycorrhizal (fungal) connections to plant roots.

I also made a million mistakes. So many mistakes. And, I learned. I took notes, I asked experts, I learned which tools I actually used and which ones were a waste of money.

Then, we moved again. This time to Penfield to a house with an existing vegetable plot. This was during Covid so while I gardened as much as ever before, I was unable to do much with the veggie plot. It needed to be rebuilt and the fence needed replacing. So, I focused on upping my indoor growing game. I got better grow lights. I started testing out different seed varieties. I stopped buying transplants. I pushed the limits with how long I could extend the season. My thumbs got greener still. I worked with the existing garden plot until I finally was ready to have my dream garden built….but that is for another post. For now, don’t worry about the color of your thumbs. Just start learning, and let me know if I can help.