I have no idea where the description “Green Thumb” came from, but it is often used to describe a person who is particularly adept at keeping plants alive. I understand the difference between a person with a “Green Thumb” who keeps plants green (alive), over the person who has a “Black thumb” by their lack of nurture to plants causing plant death, black as a symbolic colour.
Then came a day in early June where I stopped to talk with the farmers on our Brooksdale Environmental Centre, they had just finished tending to tomato plants grown underneath a plastic tunnel. One farmer said, “I’ll go and wash this green stain off my hands now!”
Green stain on fingers from pruning tomato plants.
That’s when I realized their fingers and thumbs were green! Real, live, green thumbs that I couldn’t help but to pull out my camera for a picture.
How to get a green thumb:
1. Grow tomato plants (a lot of them!).
2. Use your thumb and index finger to prune the ‘leaders’ on your tomato plants to increase fruit production. See more info on tomato pruning here.
3. Enjoy your green stained thumb (and fingers)!
