Post-pruning & trellising fingers.
My Favorite Job! AKA Pruning & Trellising Tomatoes.
The Organic Apprentice
sowing the seeds of learning!
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The Organic Apprentice
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June 22, 2013 at 11:35 am
Very interesting Matt. So if your fingers turn black, why do we say someone has a “green thumb” when they are good at growing things??
June 22, 2013 at 5:43 pm
I looked into that. Right now my fingers have a brownish hue to them after doing so much digging in the soil. However, I’m never heard of anybody say “I have a brown thumb”. Simply owing to the, perhaps negative, imagery of having a brown or black thumb might explain why a GREEN thumb has become the more favoured term.
The two other explanations I found involved green peas and algae. Concerning green peas, the story is that King Edward I of England liked green peas a great deal. His most proficient pea-handler was judged on the green staining of their fingers and thumbs. The other possible explanation is people who garden often likely touch a lot of greenery and algae which can be transferred onto the hands.
I don’t really know what the true explanation is though.
June 23, 2013 at 1:27 pm
Ahhh tomatoes….as I child, my Mom and Grandmother would drag my brother and I to buy vegetables and flowers and force us to help plant and care for them
. Of course, I married a man with a love for gardening and an incredible green thumb, so I’m learning to appreciate and find joy in it as I get older. Quite often, plant names & information will resurface randomly when someone asks “look at that flower…I wonder what it is?” 😉 I get a lot of puzzled looks as I blurt out the genus and species name deep from my subconscious, LOL!