On Saturday morning, I attended a conference in Fairfield, Iowa for food entrepreneurs—less because I am a food entrepreneur, more because I never turn down an opportunity to try local, organic cheese. Before the conference began, I stood in a group of three: me, a friend of mine from Iowa City who had tipped me off to the conference, and a radio disc jockey from Fairfield.
My Iowa City friend said she thought my gardening skills really aren’t that bad. “Now me, on the other hand…my grandfather was a florist, and I kill mint,” she said.
“I have you both beat,” the disc jockey said. “I killed a cactus.”
The two of us stared at him for a second. I contemplated what it would take to actually kill a cactus. Aren’t they supposed to rock on in brutal conditions?
“How did you do that?” I asked. “Did you forget to water it?”
He just smiled. And then I smiled. Because, in fact, while I might have killed a lot of plants in my day, I can honestly say I’ve never killed a cactus.
Then again, I’ve never planted one, either.
on Nov 6th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
I vote for the “mint-killer” to be the bottom. I I don’t know how you could kill mint, but I know you can kill cactus. I have experience with both!
on Nov 8th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Carol, you crack me up. I’m sure the cactus-killer will feel much better now! I’m not sure how the mint-killer will feel about it, though…
on Nov 8th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
When I think I think of cacti, I think of dry, hot Arizona. When I think of Arizona I think of that song about the guy standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona. And when I think of that, I think of how you sent me a really funny letter about a decade ago in which you claimed to have been born in Winslow, AZ. It was really funny.
on Nov 9th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
My living stones died. I was so sad. They got too cold I think on my sun porch in Cape Cod. They look like little hiney’s. Maybe they are more succulent than cactus. When we moved I lost all my plants. I cried. My aloe, from my husbands grandfather would bloom, in the winter, indoors, twice a winter.
Your random strangers cactus made me think of that.
I wish I could kill the mint and ivy in my side yard. sigh.
on Nov 10th, 2006 at 12:46 am
Wes, there is no proof (other than my birth certificate, to which you are not privy) that I was not born ON THAT SAME CORNER in Winslow, Arizona. But, I’m going to have to correct you and explain that really, it was our mutual friend who was born in Winslow. Not me. And I do have proof of that, because somewhere I have the college choir program that SHOWS IT’S TRUE.
(Sorry, regular readers, for the Interruption of the Inside Jokes. It had to be done.)
Cole, maybe we need to send my friend out to help kill your mint? I’m sorry about the aloe plant and about losing the plants when you moved. I worry about that, actually…the losing of the plants. I’m not good with change. Or goodbyes. Even with plants.
on Nov 20th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
[...] Looking to hear the Voice of the Inadvertent Gardener? Check it out on KRUU FM, out of Fairfield, Iowa, on Steve Cooperman’s show, which airs from 8 to 9 a.m. tomorrow (That’s Tuesday, November 21, Central Standard Time for those of you scoring at home…or even if you’re alone). The first half hour of the show will feature Wendy Wasserman and Kurt Friese of Edible Iowa River Valley, and I’ll roll up in the second half. [...]
on Jan 8th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Leave it up to a disc jockey to kill one of the toughest plants alive. I once killed a Bonzai but then again I live in Pennsylvania.
on Jan 8th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Craig, I’m not sure I even know what a Bonzai is…which means I’m no kind of gardener!
on Mar 13th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Followed your link here…too funny! However, I, too, vote for the mint killer (sorry)…over-watering is probably the cause of the cactus death…and, in general, the number one cause of houseplant death. In my former part time job in a garden center, we lost many of those cute little succulents and cacti to over-watering…If your friend were bindweed killer, she might just get a medal! Just kidding around! (Maybe she over-watered the mint??)
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Gotta Garden, I honestly had no idea that you could over-water a cactus, but I guess that makes sense. I’ll have to ask my friend about that mint…I’m not sure what did the trick!
on Mar 16th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Whne we were in college, I gave my then boyfriend (now husband)a cactus. He was very proud of having kept it alive and not allowing it to mold. When he left college, he took the cactus home and put it on his mother’s window sill in the dining room. At that time, his neighborhood was past transitional and into bad. One day he came home and found his cactus on the floor. He asked his mom why, she didn’t know. They checked the cactus and found it was a victim of a drive by shooting- someone had drilled it with a small caliber bullet or BB. (There was a hole in the window, but no bullet to be found, and no one was hurt.)
on Mar 17th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Willa, I’m speechless. That’s a crazy story! I’m glad if anyone had to give up their life in a drive-by shooting that it was just a cactus. Yikes!
on Mar 25th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
I used to think mint was the one and only un-killable organism. Oregano has just proved me wrong. It’s tough as all-get-out, but you can’t make a mojito with it.
on Mar 26th, 2007 at 7:05 am
But at least you can make a highly tasty pasta sauce with it. Or pizza.
I didn’t realize oregano was such a toughie…interesting!
on Mar 28th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
[...] Check it out for yourself. (Also, check out Willa’s recipes, which look delicious.) [...]
on Jun 11th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
[...] June 11th, 2007 Other People’s Gardens , Gettin’ Dirty , Iowa , Friends Yesterday, The Mint Killer and her family and I headed out together to Acoustic Farms, the home of Farmer Mark and his lovely [...]
on Jun 11th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
I thought I was the only person who’d ever killed mint!
on Jun 11th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Miss T, apparently you’re not alone!
on Jul 7th, 2007 at 2:37 am
[...] a couple of weeks, The Mint Killer had been mentioning that she was, in fact, successfully growing mint this year. I heard her talking [...]
on Jul 7th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
[...] don’t know how to scale it,” I told The Mint Killer one night. I knew they came pre-gutted, but had no idea how to even begin dealing with the scale [...]
on Sep 16th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
*sigh* Not only have I killed mint, I have killed it repeatedly. Right now I have some mint _cuttings_ in a jar of water, and the leaves are turning brown too. I suck.
on Sep 16th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Kea, if I put mint cuttings in a jar of water, I’d definitely kill them too — there’s no doubt about it. Honestly, for all everyone fears about it propagating all over the place, I think you should be delighted that you kill it! It’s one thing you can probably always acquire from other gardeners with a mint problem.
on Nov 3rd, 2007 at 8:05 pm
[...] and I had to maintain quarantine so as not to potentially pass this on to her and her new baby. The Mint Killer and I had a dinner-and-movie girls’ night out planned to take advantage of a brief trip out of [...]
on Nov 5th, 2007 at 7:59 am
[...] incentive to sneak over there, by learning more about Wendy, you’ll also be learning more about The Mint Killer. Yes, folks, she is one and the same, and now she’s even more famous than she was going into [...]
on Feb 7th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
[...] missed tonight’s episode, because I was off to see B.B. King with The Mint Killer. In the snow. We got eleven inches yesterday, and just as I was getting ready to leave for the [...]
on Feb 9th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
[...] for what ails me Published February 9, 2008 Friends , Genie , Herbs , Weather After The Mint Killer prescribed me a sun lamp and more than one other friend commented on how worried they’ve been [...]
on Jul 16th, 2008 at 7:48 am
[...] a few weeks ago, I ended up on vacation on Kaua’i with The Mint Killer and her family. On the way out of Lihue, The Mint Killer pointed at a line of trees with white [...]
on Sep 3rd, 2008 at 8:20 am
[...] tangible step I can take As I talked about this with The Mint Killer, after she escorted me down to the Heart of the City Market for a moment of perspective, we decided [...]
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 8:06 am
[...] think you can just roast them in the oven,” The Mint Killer told me. “Word is you just make a cut in their shells and they open right [...]