Old timer at the greenhouse taught me something about deadheading that I ignored for years

Honestly, I thought deadheading was just snipping off the ugly flowers. But this guy named Pete at the local nursery in Eugene showed me you gotta cut down to the next leaf node, not just the flower stem. Took me 3 seasons of leggy petunias to finally listen to him. Has anyone else had an old gardener call them out on basic stuff they thought they knew?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookekelly1mo ago

12 years of doing my own car maintenance and an old mechanic in Springfield told me I'd been putting oil filters on wrong the whole time. Hand tighten only, no wrench needed. It's like once you learn something one way your brain just shuts off to doing it different. Same with how I cooked eggs for 20 years before someone showed me low heat makes them not rubbery. We all got these blind spots where we think we know the whole deal but really we're just doing it half right and getting by.

charlie_ellis1mo ago

People make such a big deal out of the oil filter thing. Sure, hand tight is right, but a wrench isn't going to ruin your car either, most folks just crank it a half turn too much and they're fine. Same with eggs, low heat is nice but I've eaten plenty of rubbery ones that still tasted fine. @brookekelly, you found one old guy who told you something and now it's this whole life lesson, but half the time these tricks are just preferences. Blind spots exist, but so do a hundred ways to do the same job that all work just okay.