THE ACCIDENTAL MUSTARD

I soaked a handful of mustard seeds having mistaken them for basil which once soaked and expanded can be added to drinks or desserts.  They were supposed to look like chia seeds when soaked.  However the mustard seeds remained unchanged and as I am seeds obsessed and every little seed means a lot to me, I threw the whole lot of the seeds without much of an expectation on my meant to be tomato patch which had succumbed to some hungry creatures.

Few days later, the ground was covered with tiny specks of greens and then this was followed by shoots that sprouted freely.  

It's ironic that sometimes you don't get what you wished and hoped for but when you least expect, things turned up more than you ever asked for.

It was exactly what happened to those mustard seeds now.  

 

Looks like soon, I'll be tucking into mustard salad, mustard stir fries and everything that is mustard including mustard flowers and seeds when the plants reach maturity!

Let's wait and see...

THROUGH TRIAL AND ERROR

Things looked as if I was literally on a roll.

Planted 8 cucumber seeds from a seed pack and 3 robust looking seedlings burst through the soil on the first attempt.  That’s like a 37.5% success rate.  Not bad for a first timer.  A small voice in me said “Well done!”  I felt my head swelled a little as I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back!

Threw all the seeds from a store bought butternut pumpkin into a pot and within days a whole lot of greens appeared and very sturdy looking ones too.  Another “well done” echoed in my head.

Re-planted the 3 cucumber and 3 of the biggest butternut vines onto a “prime location” evicting gingers, the current tenant to another location.  I reckoned this prime location boosted a fence which Messrs cucumbers and butternuts would appreciate better than the rhizomes.

All seemed well and I was already dreaming of cubes and squashes.

Then without any sign of warning, the sky opened up and rained consecutively for a few days turning the prime lot waterlogged and residents there with broken limbs and disorientated.

The aftermath looked as if a cyclone had descended.

So that was Trial & Error, lesson #1

• Don’t put all the best together
• Prime location does not mean (safe) haven
• Take precautions… darlings!

Ok now I need to go and sow more cucumber seeds and say hello to the other surviving butternut vine and I am letting out the prime location.


PS:  Ginger sweetheart... do you want to return to your previous home?