Owning an aeroponic Tower Garden has it’s responsibilities… I know. I own one and can’t believe how fast the plants grow. Three weeks after planting, I was eating lettuce from it!
There is an absolute beauty to rich, green foliage growing on your deck. Personally, I am all thumbs when it comes to growing things… and, believe me, the thumbs are not green! The fact that in spite of me it is growing profusely is a miracle. I find myself going out several times a day just to check how it is doing… expecting my “expertise” to have killed something. Not this time.
This cartoon came from a conversation with another new Tower Garden owner who admitted, like me, he hated to cut the produce because “It looks so pretty.” As a retired avid gardener, he remarked it felt like you could see it grow. It does feel that way. I have a zucchini plant that is getting huge and almost threatening, it’s so big.
I had been to their house to admire the growth of the plants and noticed his wife in the backyard with an electric chainsaw. She was trimming branches from an evergreen. He joked he might have to lock the slider to keep the Tower Garden plants from taking over the house. That comment, coupled with the image of his wife with the chainsaw, triggered the cartoon idea.
Not having been a gardener, (My memories of gardening was having to pull weeds as a kid for penance.) I was not prepared for the emotional attachment to the plants. These became my babies and the thought of eating them seemed somehow wrong on so many levels. “Eat it while it’s young and tender” has a sinister ring to it.
We have all heard the philosophy of talking to plants make them grow better, right? Well, I know of one veteran Tower Gardener who talks to the plants every time she comes near them. However, her approach is different. Her favorite thing to say to her plants is, “I’M GOING TO EAT YOU!” …and, her plants grow like crazy!
It just goes to show, you have to be tough to be a gardener…or, a farmer. You can’t sit around wondering if plants have feelings or feel pain… Just eat ’em!