About two weeks ago, I planted some rosemary and I sowed some pepper seeds. After all that time, the seedlings have finally decided to push their tiny heads through the ground. But this morning when I went out to water the plants, I found almost all of them had been eaten...
My heart sank. Not this again! In any case. In this post I want to share with you what my little corner in the garden is doing. Last week, I wrote about how everything is beginning to bloom. In the seven days that have passed, everything just grew bigger and more flowers have been popping up. And I have some hope, even though the pepper seedlings have been eaten.
Two days ago, I saw the seedlings pop their tiny heads through the ground. What a beautiful sight. I always love to see them stick their tiny heads through the ground as this signals that my fears were unfounded! The seeds were not too old. But now my new fear is awakened: these seedlings are so vulnerable.
But before moving on to the fear that came true, I wanted to share the moment just before the seedling breached through the ground. It is rather poetic to see the seedling struggling to break through the ground, pushing aside the rocks and debris on top of it.
And now on to the sad news...
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As you can see above, something had the meal of their life. Almost all of the seedlings have been eaten to the stem. I am hopeful that either some of them survive, or that some of them might regrow their leaves. But I am sceptical. Maybe snails/slugs, maybe crickets or some locusts? I am not sure.
But that is just the thing about gardening, especially if you do not use any pesticides or herbicides. Things will go wrong, there will be bugs eating some of the leaves, and there will be aphids devouring new growth and flowers. It is just part of gardening. But it is never a nice feeling, leading to frustration and sadness. But between all of this, there is still some hope...
Without knowing, these common purslane seedlings began popping up between my rosemary plants. Luckily there is loads of space, so I will let them go wild! I love common purslane in salads and with rice. It is such a nutritious plant and it just goes well with lemon and labneh! I cannot wait for them to grow a bit so I can begin harvesting.
This is the funny thing about plants. The plants we normally associate with so-called weeds like these purslane plants, rarely get diseases and are rarely eaten by pests. But the plants we plant like the peppers, will get eaten. I know it is probably because of adaptation to the environment and other such factors. It is interesting that so-called weeds are stronger than normal plants... It is something to think about.
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The other plants are growing so strong. The random mustard plant that grew between my wild rocket plants have now at least 10 seed pods, containing 5-10 seeds each. I hope to harvest them in the coming weeks and then plant them as soon as they are dried out.
The amaranth plants are bolting and some of the seed heads are growing nicely. I hoped that they would grow bigger and larger, but this did not happen. I probably planted them too close to each other and then I did not harvest aggressively enough. So we learn!
On the side, I started some rosemary cuttings. After the two weeks of watering them every day, they have not shown any signs of dying! So that is good news at least. Here are three photographs I took:
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After all this time, they are still green and showing signs of growth. So I am hopeful. But sceptical. Everything can still go wrong!
In any case, gardening is about frustrations, sadness, grief, and hope. Seeds provide new plants, but bugs and other things can eat them. But this in turn keeps nature going. We are in a reciprocal relationship, even though it sometimes does not feel that way. It is always about the give and take.
Happy gardening, and stay well.
All of the writings and musings are my own. The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 or iPhone.