No, this is not what happened when I moved to Israel only to find that I have to drop off my own throat cultures, bag my own groceries, and plan my pharmacy shopping around ‘siesta’ hours.
Remember my fig tree? The one my father in law dreamt about and then had planted in my garden the very next day? Well it looked great while he was here. He told me to water it. A LOT. And then he left. I tried to remember to water it. It did get some water. But maybe not A LOT. And the leaves started falling off. Rapidly. And then there were no leaves. And then I was scared. Because I knew he’d be asking me about the fig tree. Had I killed it in just two weeks time? I called the gardener, nervous.
Not to worry! It sounds like transplant shock! You know, from the nursery to your garden. A little shock to the system.
Does a fig tree recover from ‘transplant shock’?
It should!
It better!
And what do you know, it surely did. The leaves came back, big and green.
Fast forward 4 months. We’ve had exactly one rainfall since we planted the fig tree but since it’s technically ‘winter’, we are no longer running the automatic sprinkler in the garden each day. And my fig leaves have turned yellow. A quick google search turned up more info on fig trees in winter than I knew what to do with but the bottom line is this:
Yellow leaves indicate too little water.
Water….hmmm…(brain cranking)
About a full year after reading this amazing post from Maya on how she saves water, I had a EUREKA moment. With the right equipment, I, TOO, CAN SAVE WATER!
If I keep one of these
in my shower, I can collect all the cold water that normally runs down the drain as I wait wait wait for my shower to heat up.
And with it, I can water my fig tree!
Next came a trip to the nursery. To buy the watering can, of course!
It’s not easy being green. Or is it?
We got our watering can and some flowers (no Astroturf) and made our way home. As Bob worked in the garden I went into the dairy kitchen to wash some dishes. I have a double sink and not so much counter space so I cover the second sink and use it as a surface. But once in a while I take off the cover if I have a lot of dishes to wash. But it must have been some while...
I pulled one of these beauties all the way out to see that it had sprouted from a renegade lentil. Then I pulled out the rest of them and gave them to Bob to plant. I wonder if they will suffer transplant shock. You know, from drain to garden. Check out my new bathroom fixture!
פשוט ירוק means simple green, or simply green, but easy green works as well, just as long as it's not soylent green...
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I absolutely love that something was actively growing out of (escaping from?) your drain! Instant science moment! <3 from D.C.
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