Fresh Soil, Fresh Mind

The mint plant was badly in need of re-potting, which I knew when I first bought it, but I didn't get around to re-potting as soon as I would have liked. Friday afternoon I finally devoted some time to getting the mint plant settled in some fresh soil. Hopefully this pot--which I had forgotten about--will be to its liking.

An actual pot!

I set up my little work station and began the process. After removing the mint plant from the plastic container, I found that it was indeed rather root-bound. From the first picture below, you can see the size difference between the container it was in before and the pot it is in now is pretty significant. You can also see from the pictures that it is a relatively messy process, so when re-potting indoors it is essential to have some sort of cover on the floor, not only to contain the mess, but so you can feel free to enjoy the process without having to worry about getting dirt everywhere. I think this is a crucial point and perhaps a potential drawback of growing plants indoors. For many of us, our living space is separate from the outdoors, and because it is removed from the "messy" outdoors, we consider it a "clean" space. When we bring something into our homes that naturally exists outdoors--like a plant--aspects of our dealings with this organism that wouldn't be considered a mess or nuisance outdoors become so indoors. This has the potential to detract from the growing/gardening experience and exacerbate the feeling of separateness from the environment. Speaking for myself, one of the reasons I decided to grow herbs indoors was to mitigate this feeling of isolation from nature, and I'm sure that many other urban dwellers decide to grow plants for the same reason. So while it's important to be cognizant of the mess involved with planting and re-potting, it shouldn't be a main focus of the process, nor should one begrudge the plant when a little soil happens to get on the floor.

No, that's not diluted whisky in the bottle: it's water mixed with plant food. Once I had the mint plant tucked into its soilbed, I decided it might be a good idea to give it a little food.  You know, just in case it was a little unsettled by the change and needed to stress eat. ;) I'm a little worried about the plant's reaction to the food since a.) I'm not sure when it was fed last and b.) I didn't have the proper utensils to measure the food out exactly. But as I'm learning very early on in this project, you have to be flexible, be able to deviate from your initial plan, and have a sort of fearless attitude toward experimenting with the unknown (hm, kinda like life, right?).

Way back in my very first post on this blog, I briefly mentioned the therapeutic effects I expected from this project. Friday these effects were noticeable and lasting. In fact, the main reason I chose to re-pot the mint plant Friday afternoon was that I was feeling keyed up and not so good. I thought that maybe if I did some herb work I might feel better, and at the very least, it would help channel some of the negative energy I was feeling into a positive activity rather than indulging in vice. And right I was: I felt calmer immediately, and as I continued working, I felt the rat's nest of thoughts that was forming in my mind untangling, the topography of my consciousness becoming smoother and smoother. All these positive effects just from re-potting one little plant. Quite amazing!