Lettuce, Endive, Garden Blogs, And My [Almost] Embarrassing Moment

I plunge little green plants with delicate leaves into the soft earth with my trowel. I can almost do it vacuum like style, pulling the dirt aside while simultaneously thrusting the little soil blocks into the vacant space left over. It happens so fast you can hardly see it – almost like the earth is sucking the little seedlings into itself. Swshhh plunge, swshhh plunge, swshhh plunge. I like this job. I’m good at this. When it comes to transplanting, I can shine.

My cousin’s voice breaks my revelry as I swshhh plunge the little starts into their appointed places. “So, what are we planting?”

“It looks like romaine lettuce.”

“Um… that’s not what your mom said…”

Oh no… expert transplanter and here I can’t even identify what I’m planting. Not good. My mind quickly races for more solutions. Maybe I’m not so good at this?…

“Oh… then it must be endive – Mom! Are we planting endive?”

“Yup, it’s a kind of endive – I think what you’re planting is radicchio.”

Ok, so I wasn’t really that embarrassed about it (if at all) but here’s the take away tip: if you think it’s lettuce but it’s not – call it endive. You’ll probably be right 92% of the time. 😉

As for me, I obviously need to hone my plant identifying skill a little more. But really, that’s one thing neat about gardening because there is always so much more to learn. There’s always a new plant, a new vegetable, a new way to do something, a new insect to learn about, a new something…

And so while we live in a world full of experts in this and experts in that – I don’t think I’ve ever met a gardening expert who thought he knew it all. Fact is, the more you learn the farther the horizon just seems to stretch out in front of you. And that doesn’t mean that the experts I know don’t know very much. Quite the contrary. Nature’s just that way, so simple in function – yet infinitely complex.

The trick is taking infinitely complex and making it so simple that you can grab hold of it and stir it into your soil at home. Probably more easily said then done, and that’s just one good reason to attend the Garden Bloggers Conference in Atlanta GA on Sept. 22-24. I’m planning to be there because I want to learn about reaching more people and teaching you how to garden. Plus, I’m looking forward to meeting more expert garden bloggers. 🙂

And hey, if you’ll be in the area and would like to join me there, you can get $50 off the registration price by using this link and coupon code (GBC194). Actually it’ll give me $50 off too – so it’s a win-win deal! 😉

And by the way – Born to Grow also made it to the finalists in the best new garden blog of the year category! If you’d like to put a smile on my face go vote for it over in the hall of fame awards here. Then shoot me an email and I’ll send you a smile and a hug. 😀

Happy gardening and don’t mistake your endive for romaine lettuce (it just might be a bit bitter! 😉 ) And let me know about your [almost] embarrassing garden moments in the comments!