Nurturing Nature

When I first met mh, I had a ficus plant that I'd owned for years. It was small and measly, in a charlie brown christmas tree kind of way, but it was alive and I liked it. MH was horrified that it wasn't flourishing. I had never transplanted it from the pot it came in. He thought with a bigger pot, a little fertilizer, and some care, it would grow much bigger.

So, when we married and moved to a place with a yard, he transplanted it into a bigger pot and placed it outside. He cared for it and sure enough, it flourished. It grew and grew and we had to transplant it again into an even bigger pot. It became a ficus tree. It was beautiful - full of leaves and growing tall. I regret that the tree died in the frost we had this past winter but it served as a symbol for us.

A symbol that I am not very nurturing.

I love plants but if we go on vacation, I don't find someone to water then while we are gone. So, I may plant some tomatoes or basil and care for them for a while and then we go on vacation and when we come back, they are dead or nearly dead.

Not this year. I am determined to be a nurturing plant owner. Assuming of course, that it will transfer over to my womb. I have planted tomatoes again. 4 plants in all. I water them. I add miracle grow. I make sure they get enough sun. I check on them every morning and every evening. I count the budding tomatoes as if they are follicles. "Look", I cry, "now there are 17!" I am proud as if I created them myself.

This year, I will not abandon my tomatoes. I will tend these plants carefully, religiously.

Because I need these tomato buds to become ripe, healthly tomatoes.