Plant Dad Diaries: Entry #1

 As a "young adult", one of the things I have been wanting to grow in, is responsibility. Mainly because I know that the older I get, the more my hands are going to be full of things to cater to. It only seems rational for one to want to be ready for the season, in which they will be in charge of leading and taking care of others, or any sort of oversight that will come in the future. It could be as big as being a chief decision maker in some financial organisation, or it could be making sure everyone has food at a wedding, the sky is the limit, I guess. I took it upon myself to take a step in being more responsible. It was around fathers' day. I put out on my social media that I had become a father. Yes, it shocked some friends, yes, I decided to get a pet plant to take care of. 

Initially, I had thought to myself that if I could keep the plant alive until the end of the year, then perhaps I would eligible to get another plant. Fortunately, my first plant did not die, however, the process of keeping that plat alive did bring out change in me. I found myself now thinking about my plant more frequently. I would be thinking about whether it had been watered, subsequently,  the health of the soil and if the plant was getting enough sunlight. It takes being intentional to keep a plant alive, once it has been planted, the same principle echoes in many other aspects of our lives. Being intentional keeps things alive. 

The process of repotting plants, was one that kind of taught me something in a more tactile manner. There's a point in time, when a plant grows, and its roots  start to run out of space in the pot. When this happens the plant cannot get as much nutrients as it once did before, mainly because the roots start to get tangled. So the solution to this is to find a bigger pot, in order to accommodate the growth of the roots, this allows the plant to gain nutrients once more. In order to repot a plant, you have to transfer some soil, and that leaves you with muddy hands, and some dirt under your nailbed. There's something therapeutic about using your hands, and getting them a little dirty to take care of your plants. An epiphany I had was that, for the sake of growth there's times when you have to get your hands messy. 

Before the end of the year, I already had accumulated more than one plant under my care. I'm not the type of plant parent to give my plants names. If I did ever name my plants, I would probably use the nomenclature used for naming stars,  θ Aquarii does have a ring to it doesn't it ? Perhaps some day I'll get sentimental enough to name my plant, unfortunately, plants can't respond to you calling them. 

I also started to propagate seeds, avocado seeds actually. My experience with propagation has been quite a learning point. At first I had put the avocado seeds in some water. For weeks and weeks, nothing happened. After a while I started to to think that perhaps, the seeds were duds. At my wit's end, I resorted to planting my seeds in soil. Nothing changed.  Some more weeks went by. Then just as I was considering terminating the project, a sprout appears. I think that morning was one of the most satisfying ones I've had as a plant dad. It had me checking myself, to see how patient and, how much faith I had that the seed would germinate.

In all my time as a plant parent, there's one scripture that comes to mind whenever I think about my experience. 

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

1 Corinthians 3:7 ESV

No matter how diligently I care for my plants, whether they grow or not is up to God. So I've learnt not to fret myself about my plants growing at a desired rate. It's liberating to know that God is in control, and I can only do my small part in watering and repotting the plants. I have also tried to see where else in my life I can practice this too. To freely surrender and not be anxious about things that are out of my control. What's something you're learning to let go of? I hope some of you are inspired to get some plants. In case you were wondering, all the photos used in this blog post are of the plants I have at home.