Yesterday I planted a little box of what will be onion seedlings. I was ever so pleased with myself, for I made the box, and the anti-frost covering woven from bits of new olive suckers from the beard of the olive tree. Not only that, the soil is the product of worms chewing through all sorts of green matter in the tin bucket with holes embedded in my raised bed made out of pallets.
Oh, I know that sounds like the next thing I am going to say is that this was accomplished shortly after I had ingested a smoothie of wheat grass or some such. Well, I am not. The kettle was on the boil for store-bought, strong instant coffee, if you must know.
As a hedge against the possible failure of the perfect seedling tray, I decided to plant a very short row of seeds in another bed, which is best known for joyful pumpkins. If the cabbages ever come up, the joyful pumpkins will need another home.
So I planted a few more seeds and patted down the soil. When I stood up and turned to go inside, I realised to my horror that I had picked up the seed packet upside down, and had turfed enough seeds to cover a volley-ball court with grown onions just in front of the line of hopeful cabbages. As in the Parable, some seed fell on the brick surround, and some on the stony ground beneath.
I hastily spread the ones fortunate to fall on fertile ground, flicked the ones on the bricks in the general direction of the vegetable bed, and frenetically ran my fingers back and forth in the soil, so as to bury them. I patted down the soil while swearing at my carelessness, and then carefully lifted the packet, the right way up this time, and was thrilled and delighted to see that with the seeds remaining in the safety of the packet that I would have another planting opportunity in the weeks ahead.
I don’t know what a sequel to a sequel is called, but progress of the onions, and their battle for supremacy over the hopeful but tardy cabbages, if any, will be chronicled here.
In other news, the orderly carrots and lettuce have shown their miniscule heads after a very fine rain resembling heavy dew in the early hours of this morning, and I wish the things in drawers would grow a little bigger, since I cannot remember exactly what I planted in them a couple of weeks ago.
©2019 Allison Wright
That elusive pair of jeans 