📙 Part 2: Describe a person you know who loves to grow plants

This episode's vocabulary

To be (hard) pushed to do something - to find it difficult to do something.

Plot (noun) - a small piece of land that has been marked or measured for a particular purpose.

Greenhouse (noun) - a building with a roof and sides made of glass, used for growing plants that need warmth and protection.

Green fingers (plural noun) - the ability to make plants grow.

To potter about/around (sth) - (phrasal verb) - to spend time in a pleasant, relaxed way, often doing small jobs in your house.

Flowerbed (noun) - an area of ground where flowers are planted.

To trim (verb) - to make something tidier or more level by cutting a small amount off it.

Shrub (noun) - a large plant with a rounded shape formed from many small branches growing either directly from the ground or from a hard stem, grown in gardens.

Overgrown (adj.) - covered with plants that are growing thickly and in an uncontrolled way.

Lawnmower (noun) - a machine used for cutting grass.

Secateurs (plural noun) - a garden tool that has two short sharp blades and is used for cutting plant stems.

Shears (plural noun) - very large scissors.

To pave (verb) - to cover an area of ground or a road with materials such as stone, concrete, or bricks that will form a hard, level surface.

Moss (noun) - a very small, green or yellow plant that grows especially in wet earth or on rocks, walls, and tree trunks.

Lichen (noun) - a grey, green, or yellow plant-like organism that grows on rocks, walls, and trees.

Shed (noun) - a small building, usually made of wood, used for storing things.

Bits and pieces (idiom) - small things or jobs of different types.

Orderly (adj.) - well arranged or organized.

Up/down your street (idiom) - to be the type of thing that you are interested in or that you enjoy doing.

-

Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you ready?

R: Yes.

M: Shoot.

R: I'm honestly a bit pushed for people to talk about in this respect. Since most of my friends don't have gardens, plots or greenhouses that I know of. The one person I do know who has green fingers or, well, of any sort would be my dad. He's constantly pottering around the garden of my childhood home. If he isn't helping others with their gardens that is. He doesn't really grow anything that could be sold or eaten as food unless we're talking about the local rabbits. Usually, it's just maintaining the decorative flowerbeds, trimming the shrubs and making sure things aren't getting to overgrown. I make it sound easy. But given the amount of equipment he seems to go through to do it, it's hard to understand how it isn't actually a full-time job for him. I've lost track of the number of lawnmower blades, and secateurs, and shears that I bought for him as birthday presents. They seem to get put to good use though. So it's not a waste of money or time. What makes the necessity of all this stuff all the more surprising is that it only seems to be used for the back garden, our front garden is covered over in decking where it isn't paved over. So nothing grows there, apart from the occasional moss or lichen. There's enough space out the back for a shed to store all the bits and pieces though. So that's not such a big deal. I think it would be more difficult if it were being kept in the house to be honest, since that's where my mom stores her shoes. I'm not sure it's actually growing the plants he likes. It's just sort of the idea of maintaining order. My dad is a very orderly person. So this sort of hobby seems right up his street. It's also a good testbed for the skills he uses to help others elsewhere. Like I said, he likes to help people out with their garden. So they're quite lucky he doesn't charge for this, to be honest, he could make a fortune given the amount of practice he's had and the number of people that he's helping. So good for him. Hopefully, he'll keep doing it because like I say it seems to keep his life in order and it certainly seems to be something that he enjoys.

M: And what about you? Do you enjoy growing plants?

R: No, I'm definitely not gifted in that respect. I'm better at killing plants than I am at making them live.

-