NEEDLING

Took it easy today. My mom came to visit late morning, and we went on a walk around my neighborhood with Brutus. She pointed out a lot of the trees and plants to me. She’s much better at it than I am. Then we came back to my place and ate a little lunch. Avocado, mixed salad with a “filet” of olive oil, and some tahini to spread on a couple slices of bread. After she left, I went to the bank to pay a couple of bills, then I headed to what’s becoming my favorite shop in Austin, Howard Nursery.

I walked around and took in the smells, looked at the flowers, dreamt about having one of each of those fruit trees, and left with lots of new beautiful plants. My favorite being a small fig tree. I asked the boss guy about it.

“My mom’s had a few fig trees that she’s planted at her place and non of them have taken. What’s the matter?”
“The matter is that most people get them wrong. Don’t water them till they’re bone dry, that’s the trick, and that’s where most people go wrong, they just want to water them all the time, and that kills them.”
“So what do I do? Can I transfer it from this pot it’s in now to a bigger pot?”
“Sure, no problem. Water it one good time, then don’t ever water it again until it’s bone dry, and it looks like there isn’t any water left in that pot anywhere you can see. BONE DRY is the key here.”

Well... the boss man isn’t nearly as talkative as that, but that’s what he said with half the words and some body language added. He’s a no-bullshit man, and that store is definitely one of my top places in my neighborhood.