As a parting gift, they gave Lory a veggie planter box that they couldn't take with them. Zoe made it herself and had some sweet basil, lettuce, sunflowers, tomato and even sweetcorn in it. We carefully transplanted all the plants yesterday, emptied the soil into bags and got the moving guys to carry the box here. It was solidly built out of wood and very well constructed with a thick layer of stones at the bottom for drainage so it weighed a good couple kgs.
This morning Lory and I filled it up with soil and replanted all the little plants, then watered everything in well. I've been feeling rather sad lately about not having any green things to call my own that we can take care of. I haven't written anything plant related for ages as a result - but today made my heart and soul sing a little bit. It felt so good to get dirt under my fingernails and work with these little green things for a while.
It was a nice activity to do together even though it was quite warm. I'm hoping that the plants didn't get too hot and that if they wilt, they'll be able to bounce back. These sweet basils are so bright and shiny and that fresh basil smell that comes off them is DIVINE!!!
In the next week or two Lory and I will be making our way to Oudtshoorn to sort out our storage unit and I'll be grabbing a trellis and pea seeds. Lory absolutely loves growing peas and she eats them straight off the vine.
Even though it was so blisteringly hot in Oudtshoorn in summer and we had frost overnight in winter, we somehow managed to keep some of her plants alive there. I'm thinking that we will have much better results here where the weather is milder and it rains more regularly. Either way, I think it will be so good for us to have a few plants to look after until the cold of winter sets in. I'm sure that they will grow nicely here.
When I was a kid, I used to grow a lot of vegetables with my folks. We had a big garden that they divided up with wooden railway sleepers to make sizeable garden beds. Every day after school (and homework) we would all have to put in at least an hour's work in the vegetable garden - weeding, tending, turning over compost or mulching, collecting bugs or harvesting produce. My mother grew the most delicious sweetcorn, the largest carrots I've ever pulled out of the ground, about a gazillion potatoes that we went mining for and myriad other things. It was hard work, but so rewarding. I look back on those times fondly and with appreciation. Lory's green fingers will also be put to good use and I hope one day she too has fond memories of our mini veggie gardening sessions.
