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  • The tale of a brave little seed.

    The tale of a brave little seed...a short 'true' story, by Pa Snips.

    The tale of a brave little seed

    Once upon a time, a long time ago, way back in the year 2012, a once-tall-and-proud tomato plant slowly withered as its life-cycle neared its end. The remaining few tomatoes, which never fully ripened and began rotting alive due to their hosts botrytis-plagued frame, fell one-by-one to the floor. Over time they began to shrink and dry out and then were subjected to freezing temperatures, night after night, during the long harsh winter that followed.

    As the nights grew warmer, and the days longer, the greenhouse tender returned to prepare his little glass church-of-growth, the place in which he can marvel at the miracle of plant life and offer praise to that wondrous little parcel of genetic coding – the humble seed.

    Whilst clearing out the long-dead remains of the previous year’s edible-gift bearers, plans began to develop in the greenhouse tender’s mind about how to utilise the available space in a more-efficient way than in the previous year. Amongst other things, it was decided that the tomato plants would be on the opposite side and that they would be on the floor, rather than on the staging, to allow for their lofty frame to grow unhindered.

    These thoughts were quickly brushed aside as there was a more-pressing task to attend to – completing the preparation of the church-of-growth.

    With all the remnants of the previous year’s harvest removed, the tender’s attention became focussed on the floor. Strewn with scatterings of compost, leaves, bits of branch and the odd tomato carcass here-and-there, a thorough sweeping was in dire need.

    During the process of eliminating the accumulated waste matter, one of the shrivelled old tomato-shells split and one of the tiny seeds, which had - until this time - been a prisoner, escaped and bounced across the paved floor. This went by unnoticed by the tender who simply stood back and smiled as he surveyed his church-of-growth, now ready for the cycle of life to begin again.

    The weeks passed by and new seedlings eventually began to emerge, stretching out to absorb the life-giving sunlight, whilst below ground their tendril-like roots grew deeper into the compost to soak up the nutrients needed for their continued growth. The greenhouse tender ensured his little green friends had sufficient water to complete their requirements and a sense of harmony once again returned to the confines of the greenhouse.

    Overspill from the watering process had naturally made its way to the lowest available space, as is expected when a liquid is subjected to the forces of gravity, and the gaps between the flagstones received most of it.

    Some of the water that had filled the micro-canal-like gaps found its way to a seed, a seed that had formerly escaped from a dried husk that was barely recognisable as the tomato that it once was. The seed swelled as the water quenched its parched shell, a tap root sprouted forth, a seedling arose. The greenhouse-tender bent down one day to closely inspect the new tomato plants that he felt honoured to have the privilege of caring for when he noticed something growing from between the flagstones, at first he assumed it was a weed - and very nearly pulled it out - but luckily he paused, then leaned in closer to examine it in better detail.

    Sure enough, that brave little seed had produced a glorious little tomato plant, growing out from the gap between the flagstones – right there between the other tomato plants.

    The end.
    Attached Files
    Tried and Tested...but the results are inconclusive

    ..................................................

    Honorary member of the nutters club, by appointment of VeggieChicken

  • #2
    Awwww, that's a lovely story, Pa I hope the brave little seed will become a parent and bring more courageous children into the church-of-growth to nourish and sustain the greenhouse-tender .

    Comment


    • #3


      ooaah flobbadob!
      Location - Leicestershire - Chisit-land
      Endless wonder.

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      • #4
        What a lovely story Pa

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        • #5
          That's a tomato that deserves to be well looked after
          Location....East Midlands.

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          • #6
            Now all you need is a jackhammer applied to the paving flags to give it room to grow.........
            My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
            to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

            Diversify & prosper


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            • #7
              Just be careful as I seem to remember reading botrytis can overwinter on dead plant material, you may have a Trojan horse there..... Dun Dun Duuuuuuuuuuu.
              My new Blog.

              http://jamesandthegiantbeetroot.blogspot.com

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              • #8
                Thank you to all that took the time to read and comment on my little story.

                Jamesy, if I see in giant wooden horses lurking in the undergrowth I'll be sure to duck & cover. I really ought to have carefully sterilised everything but we'll see, either they will be ok or they won't. Last years toms appeared to have been infected primarily at the points where the 'armpit branches' had been cut off, so this year they are staying intact.
                Tried and Tested...but the results are inconclusive

                ..................................................

                Honorary member of the nutters club, by appointment of VeggieChicken

                Comment


                • #9
                  Just read your lovely story,you will have to come up with some more,and get published
                  sigpicAnother nutter ,wife,mother, nan and nanan,love my growing places,seed collection and sharing,also one of these

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                  • #10
                    When is a tomato seed not a tomato any more ?

                    .....When it's a bit squashed....



                    (Yes, I've got my coat on. )
                    There's no point reading history if you don't use the lessons it teaches.

                    Head-hunted member of the Nutter's Club - can I get my cranium back please ?

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                    • #11
                      i just read this and thought it was lovely. Thought i would bring it to the front now we are at that season again
                      I grow 70% for us and 30% for the snails, then the neighbours eats them

                      sigpic

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                      • #12
                        Nice story. I've had tomatoes self seed in my cold frame occasionally, but as I have very limited space and I don't know what they are (most of my tomatoes are F1 hybrids) I pull them out.
                        A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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                        • #13
                          my best tomatoes actually came from little rogue plants last year, i didn't need the space and just left them to it, far too many in the same space but just shows you leaving nature to do its thing, didn't stake them or anything. Although i was their rain cloud.
                          I grow 70% for us and 30% for the snails, then the neighbours eats them

                          sigpic

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Great story Pa.
                            The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
                            A weed is just a flower in the wrong place.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I have three growing right now - they sprouted in December alongside the path next to my compost heap. Maybe a dead tomato intended for the heap instead got squashed?

                              So they struggled through winter, and a month ago I moved my three brave little soldiers to a more suitable position. I wish them well!

                              Comment

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