My kitchen window with my grandmother’s planter is the green one in the middle.
Above my grandparents’ kitchen sink in West New York, New Jersey were a variety of flower pots filled with plants. But often interspersed among the plants were utensils. Usually forks, but sometimes knives and spoons.
I own one of my Grandparents’ goupls.
When I was very young I remember thinking that my Grandma was special as she could grow metal in her pots. I especially wanted her to grow more of the special forks we called goupls, that we used in her home. They had really thick and interesting handles. I thought goupl was a special name for this fork. We did not call the other forks, goupls, just these forks. I found out when I was older that goupl is Yiddish for fork.
Usually standing upright, prongs in the dirt, were two or three forks each day. Amidst the plants the glow of silver. Why? My grandparents kept kosher. Meat and dairy is kept separate. My grandparents had utensils for milk meals and another set for meat meals. If they touched when they were wet, they had to be rekashered….made clean to use again. One way, according to my Grandma, is to bury it for 24 hours. Grandma buried it by sticking the unclean item in a flower pot.
In reality, I think this was my grandmother’s interpretation of ne’itzah, a type of koshering for knives when you push them in dirt several times. Grandma just kept any utensil buried and unused.
My mother also kept plants in her kitchen at our hoe in North Bergen. But she did not keep kosher so there were never forks in the flowerpots. However having the plants was important to both my parents. My Dad was always potting and repotting plants. Plants freshen the air of your house according to my Dad. So besides helping to keep kosher, plants keep you healthy!
When I married, my husband and I decided to keep a kosher home. When we purchased our house a big draw for me was the window ledge above the sink. A wonderful place for plants. But to be honest, I very rarely have put a fork or spoon or knife in a flower pot. However, they are there in case I need them.
My mother-in-law’s aloe plant.
Besides my kitchen sink plants, I have other plants including an aloe plant that is over 50 years old. I have had it for 31 years. But before that it was my mother-in-law’s kitchen aloe plant. I inherited when she passed away at only 59. Aloe plants are important in the kitchen. My parents also had one. If you burn yourself, you can quickly go to you aloe plant and break off a piece of a leaf. The thick goo is a healing source for burns.
Plants in my kitchen remind me of my grandparents, parents and in-laws. Although I might not have forks in my flowerpots, I do have one of my grandmother’s flowerpots on my sink window. My daughter is getting married in a month. She has a window above her kitchen sink. I plan to buy her a plant as a housewarming gift so she too can have flower pots in her kitchen.
zicharonot 
I’ve never heard of putting a fork in a flowerpot before! Buried in the backyard, yes, but not in a flower pot. Our approach (we also keep kosher) is to wash the utensil and say, “oops.” Not very halachic, but at least we try!
I wish I could have a photo of it. But I don’t.