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Even gardeners are superstitious
Whenever Friday the 13th rolls around, I’m reminded of some of the superstitions passed along from gardener to gardener down through the seasons.
One of the most common superstitions is that it if you thank someone for a “passalong” plant, a plant passed from one gardener to another, it won’t grow.
Yet it’s hard to avoid saying “thank you” when you are offered a free plant. With practice you could instead say something like, “That will look good in my garden,” or “I have the perfect spot for that plant.” Thankfully, many gardeners have heard of this superstition and will understand why they weren’t thanked when giving away a plant from their garden.
There is also a superstition that seeds grow when a pregnant woman plants them. This doesn’t mean that you are pregnant if the seeds you sow grow, or that the seeds won’t grow if you aren’t pregnant. It just means, if you believe it, that getting a pregnant woman to sow the seeds in your garden makes it more likely that the seeds will germinate.
Did you know there is also a superstition that if you carry a hoe, spade or shovel in the house, you must carry it out the same door you came in by or a death will follow? That seems a bit extreme for such a simple act. I’ve carried a hoe in the house before, but I must have carried it out the same door I came in by, as there haven’t been any deaths that I can relate to any hoe-carrying episode on my part.
And finally, it is considered bad luck to give someone just one daffodil, but good luck to give them a bunch of daffodils.
So how do you make these gardening superstitions work in your favor?
Don’t thank anyone when they offer you a free plant from their garden, ask someone who is pregnant to plant your seeds in the spring, keep your gardening tools out of the house and plant a whole bunch of daffodil bulbs before the ground freezes!
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