Ever since I could remember gardening has always been a part of my life. From spending my summers fertilizing my parent’s garden or setting up greenhouses in the winter, my fascination with gardening began at a young age. I spent most of my childhood summers playing in the backyard with my dad where he taught me how to plant basic vegetables and fruit. Naturally, I began to follow in my dad’s footsteps and develop my love for growing fruits such as cherries and dragon fruit during high school. Gardening was not as easy as I assumed it would be because it took lots of trials and time when I was doing it by myself.

Gardening started as something that I helped my parents with around the house; however, as I grew older I realized that gardening has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of how life works because for me to see the results I wanted it would take immense time, effort, and most importantly patience. Gardening is a learning experience because I learned from my failures and made improvements to better take care of my plants.

Apart from being my parent’s helper in the garden, I was also their tech-savvy daughter. I remember I would search Youtube tutorials on how to germinate Kaffir Lime seeds using the paper towel method and then translate the steps back to them. Even then I would set up a Facebook marketplace and post Windmill Palm Trees for sale.

Through it all, gardening has brought me to become more appreciative and optimistic about life because I did not give up when I failed. Gardening is a long journey but I learned that hard work and determination will take me far into being successful.