something beautiful: gardening

When I was getting certified as a yoga instructor, we had an instructor come in and talk to us about marketing yourself and branding yourself as a yoga teacher. His name is David, and most of what he says offends me (don't worry, the link is approved). But his movement of livin' in the moment is beautiful. I could use a little more livin' in the moment. He believes in slowing down because we move way too fast and get caught up in trivial things. He believes that in order to live in the moment you should experience, each day, something beautiful, something funny, and something delicious.

so in effort to bring this same idea to those who don't enjoy hearing (or reading) foul language (or jokes), I'm going to incorporate something beautiful, funny, and/or delicious into my blog posts each week.

today, what I find beautiful is gardening. the ability to sustain life via mint cuttings. I read how to do this in a book I found at Anthropologie (on sale, of course) called growing stuff: and alternative guide to gardening. I haven't quite figured out what that means, as I've found it's mostly basic gardening. but I bought a chef's gardening trio from Trader Joes with oregano, mint, and thyme and the oregano and thyme immediately died. In attempt to salvage the mint so I can get my money's worth of the trio, I read how to take cuttings and encourage them to grow roots, making a new plant. I didn't get any before pictures, but here's what it looks like now.

don't judge me by my dirty windows.

step 1 (softwood cuttings, ie mint, thyme, lavender, rosemary): cut a healthy-looking stem about 10 cm long from the top of your chosen plant.

step 2: strip the leaves from the lower half of the stem and, if using, dust the cut with rooting powder.  (I didn't use this) GENTLY water.

step 3: push the cutting one third of the way into a pot of soil and loosely cover the pot and cutting with a polythene bag (I used a ziploc.  I have no idea what a polythene bag is)  use toothpicks or a wooden skewer pushed into soil to prevent bag from touching your cutting.

step 4: place the pot out of direct sunlight and wait for roots and new top growth to appear.  Mint will root in two or three weeks, but it can take up to 3 months for other plants. (it took my mint 2 weeks before I started to notice growth)  no need to water during this time, at least I didn't. just keep a close watch.

that's it!  super easy.  and now I have mint for my water. (what?  you haven't tried mint in your water?  you'll love it.  my sister-in-law introduced me to it and now I'm hooked.)