Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman is “ahead of the game” this Valentine’s Day – massive cucumbers, included. The 26-year-old former athlete, hugely into her gardening and with a green thumb proving it on Instagram, updated for her 2.1 million followers on V-Day, but the post wasn’t pink dresses, flowers, and kisses. Aly, who is extremely practical, was offering up solutions to growing vegetables when you live in snowy Boston, and her savvy ways are now seeing her eye up watermelons, canteloupes, peppers, and more. Check it out below.
Scroll for today’s action. It comes as Aly makes headlines via her four-legged friend Mylo, with the blue-eyed pup recently scoring his own little win as he waddled around with a giant home-grown cucumber. Aly’s 2020-acquired pooch, part of her self care, took a back seat today, but the 2012 “Fierce Five” and 2016 “Final Five” captain had plenty to share. Today, she showed her face.
Posting in selfie mode and for Aero Garden as she did a little influencing, Raisman outlined just how well you can grow a garden while staying indoors.
Addressing her followers in a simple blue sweater and with her hair down, Aly hoped everyone was having a “very relaxing day” on Valentine’s, holding out a white grid structure with holes in it and saying: “I have found gardening to be extremely therapeutic and it’s something that really allows me to be really present.” Aly, who loves the “process of growing something from a seed,” then outlined how it’s done, telling fans how her Aero Garden helps her “transplant these seeds once they start growing.”
Aly, who said living in Boston makes it impossible to “have anything growing outside,” admitted that she’d gotten the timing of her melon planting wrong last year, but “I’m getting a head start,” she confirmed. Basically, the gardening process winds up a “lot quicker” with this product.
The camera, largely sticking with Aly and her white equipment, did, however, shift to show her seedlings packages, with the gymnast saying that “having a head start” with grow lights was leaving her excited. See her spandex meditation below!
Aly, who does partner up with larger brands and is both an Amazon face and an Aerie one – she even travels with her beloved $14 Aerie baseball cap – has been taking her fans on chilled and reflective journeys amid her recovery from anxiety. Alongside the love of plants comes a passion for Pilates, with Aly also seen meditating and enjoying her home lavender – it isn’t all stretching for this muscle machine.
Meanwhile, fellow gymnast Nastia Liukin is losing her pants for a massive Valentine’s Day thigh gap. Scroll for it!
