Flecks of Varied Colors

Gardening - My Teenage Hobby

MARCH 3, 2021 PROMPT
Do you have a green thumb? Are you a gardener? Do you want to be?

Gardening - A Teenage Hobby

I don't know if I have a green thumb but every time I plant something, it grows. I don't consider myself as a gardener but I used to help my father in planting vegetables, root crops, herbs and even flowering and fruit bearing plants. I have no choice as these were our source of food and our means to earn a living. If you consider planting trees as gardening, then I had done it many times. Every time I go home, I always marvel at how huge the mango tree I had planted before when I was still on my young age. I also planted "lanzones", avocado, and banana. All these bear delicious, sweet fruits already.

         During my teenage years, I liked doing a landscape (well, even until now but I just don't have a vacant yard and spare time to do it). It's still part of gardening right? Back then, during my summer vacation or during Saturdays and Sundays or even weekdays with no classes, I would toil down the vacant lot on our front and back yard, would gather stones, sand and pebbles to create a landscape. I also did bonsai and had planted few "bermuda grass and carabao grass" (I actually saw these grasses on my grandmother's yard and I begged her to have just a few for replanting) on our yards. And since bermuda grass won't grow much on our soil, I settled with the latter.

         You know that inexplainable feeling of content and satisfaction for a job well done? That's what I would feel while witnessing our clean and organized yard. And my mother always had something for me after this. Although I like doing this, I don't want to do it all my life - to be a gardener. This wasn't my dream to become.