From Seedling to Sanctuary, Let's Start an Adventure!

Welcome to 'Growing with Carla', where the trials and joys of plant parenthood come to life! If you've ever looked at your wilted basil and felt a pang of defeat, this is the place where you'll learn it's all part of the journey. Join me as I share my own escapades in nurturing a verdant sanctuary amidst the hustle of a full-time IT career, parenting, and staying fit. From the euphoria of witnessing a new leaf unfurl to the somber moments of parting with a beloved, struggling plant, I'm here to tell you—you're not alone. We'll traverse the highs and lows of gardening, armed with practical advice and candid stories, enabling you to cultivate more than just greenery, but also resilience and patience.

Expect to connect with a community of hobbyists who understand that the beauty of growth extends beyond the soil. There are no guest appearances in this introductory chat—just you and me, and a shared passion for all things green. So whether you're an experienced gardener or someone who's looking to start their first pot of herbs, tune in for an honest, light-hearted exploration of what it means to grow alongside our plants. Don't forget to reach out via email or Instagram, because as much as this is a personal tale, it's also a conversation waiting to happen with you. Let's begin this botanical adventure and flourish together.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/GrowingWithCarla
Full transcripts available on my website!

Transcript

Hey there, this is Carla, welcome to the garden. This is a brand new podcast about gardening, being a plant hobbyist and all the fun things that we get to do and learn because of them. So I'm really excited and I hope you'll join me on this adventure today. So this new podcast is called Growing with Carla, and the main goal that I want to get out of it is that you don't have to be a professional to love plants, to want to grow your own plants and flowers and vegetables and all these wonderful things that just grow. Now, I'm very new to podcasting and I'm not used to hearing my own voice nor having to edit it and just listen to myself. I'm more of a listener person, so this is going to be very awkward. First couple of few episodes, as I kind of get into this, and I'm hoping that you'll bear with me on that. The other thing reason why I wanted to start this podcast is because I've seen lots of podcasts that were literally just step-by-step instructions like this is how you do this particular thing, and while they're fun, I'm a little bit beyond that and so if you need that perfect, I can help you recommend a couple, or maybe they'll show up in your related podcasts, on your playlist or the other type of podcasts I've seen. They're so high level, so off the ground it's a whole production company. So they're fun to listen to, but I don't feel like I get a lot of practical application out of it. So I'm hoping, with this podcast, to provide some practical application that you guys can learn from, share my experiences with different types of plants, different types of growing methods and just fun things along the way. 

As a plant hobbyist, I really only do this in my free time. I work 40 plus hours a week at an IT job. I have a son who has extracurricular activities that we go to. I go to CrossFit. My life is not free. It's not oriented around my gardening. I have to spend time and make time for it. I've heard people complain like oh, you have such a great thumb. No, they're not complaining. I've heard people compliment like you have such an amazing green thumb. Look at all the plants that you have. Like this took a really long time to grow these plants, to care for them. There's a lot of trial and error and like I've had so many failed plants that people just don't know about because obviously they died. I composted them or or they had to be taken care of in some way and I reused the soil and, like this isn't an easy thing to do. 

To be a plant hobbyist Like I, I view Pinterest, I go through Etsy. I'm like, oh my God, there's so many wonderful plants Like I want to grow, like these big, beautiful pink leaved ones or these wonderfully variegated ones, and like you got to pick and choose what you want to start with. And sometimes it's really hard, like I've been dreaming of having a mini Monstera or a Ginny Monstera. It's like the Pothos version of a Monstera, the little leaves, but they're all like Swiss cheese and still and it's such a beautiful plant I've been really struggling trying to get this one growing and I bought it off Etsy and it came with two cuttings. One of them died, the other one I'm barely keeping alive. 

So this isn't an easy thing, but I don't mean that in a way that should be disappointing or kind of put you off, like it's something that takes time. It takes patience, takes patience. It takes just having a little faith in the plants and that your ability to take care of them. So I don't like to call it like a black thumb or you're a plant killer. Sometimes you just don't know what you don't know, and so I'm hoping, with this podcast, to help kind of bring out ideas or thoughts that I've discovered in my experiences and share them with you. If this is something that you're interested in listening to, please let me know. Like all my contact details are in the story notes attached to this podcast on your streaming service. If you have any questions, you can email me, you can hit me up on Instagram. I look forward to spending part of your day with you. So thank you for listening and I'll see you on the first episode.