Having A Green Thumb Is A Skill
This is my submission for the June 2026 IndieWeb Carnival. The theme is “No way!?”, hosted by Alex Hsu.
As someone also diagnosed with ADHD, I have a plethora of interests, my interest in them ebbing and flowing depending on the time of my life. As of right now, I’m super interested in growing plants. Specifically indoors, and hydroponically, because 80% of the year, my city is cold and snowy. My grandfather from my dad’s side of the family used to grow their own food on a vacant lot beside their house.
It always fascinated me to see whole root crops emerge from the soil after what seemed to be never ending days of watering the soil. Then one day I asked my dad if he could also do the same and he told me one thing: my grandpa apparently has a “green thumb” which means he’s the only one in my family who can grow plants. He was probably born with it, and so it wasn’t a skill to be taught. He puts the seed in the ground, water it and voila, potatoes.
Decades later, as I got burnt out from non-stop studying, I looked up growing veggies in water again (used to be an interest of mine), and figured I should try it. I don’t have much to lose. Thus, my “No Way!?” happened. Turns out, I can actually grow plants. There’s a science to it. Different types require different resources and much more, the most basic and greatest requirement to gardening is actually one thing: patience.
That’s something I’m still learning to cultivate in myself. Seeing the plants come out from the smallest seed after weeks of waiting and watering and pruning the plants feels very accomplishing. I didn’t realize how meditative it is. It also reminds me to “trust the process” because no matter what I do in life, everything adds up to the total sum, the same way you don’t notice how much plants grow until it’s already tall and bushy.
Time passes anyway, learn new skills, research them. You might be surprised how uncomplicated something is until you put time and effort into it.