Sowing Seeds
Gardening here in the UAE during the summer months can really be challenging. The temperature had been unforgiving and there are very few options to plant.
Fortunately, we had a few that were resilient enough to grow some fruits like the papaya from which I was able to make some atchara (pickled papaya) and the sweet potatoes that we harvested a few weeks ago that were also abundant and huge.
It's about the lettuce, not tomatoes!
Despite the very hot weather, I still took the chance and tried to sow some lettuce and eggplant seeds last June. I prepared the soil from our compost and planned to put them in a shaded spot inside the villa gate.
With fingers crossed that this will not turn out as my last attempt with the lettuce, I proceeded. That time, my lettuce did not survive after transplanting them and the few remaining I had in a small pot were overrun by unwanted tomato sprouts.
Sprouts! Sprouts! Sprouts!
Sprouts make me happy and giddy. A sign of life and hope, right?
Oh, the joy of seeing them tiny little plants emerge...
But wait, there seems to be something wrong. Can you tell?
Nothing like a lettuce sprout.
I have planted lettuce on several occasions already that I can clearly tell these look nothing like lettuce. I snapped a photo and sent it to my mom. She said to try to smell it. It should smell like lettuce if it were.
The tiny hairs on the stem (is that how it's called?) kinda gave it away... This really isn't lettuce, but yet again, TOMATOES!!!
Disappointed and broken-hearted, I stopped watering the pot. I do not like tomatoes, I want lettuce! So eventually, they died (sorry).
Third Time Lucky?
After a couple of weeks, I decided to recultivate the soil to prepare it for another try in sowing lettuce. I could be quite adamant, you know! LOL.
So yeah, a few days after cultivating, I saw these...
New sprouts!
But joke's on me, I did not plant anything yet. Haha.
The Persistent Tomato
It seems that we have thrown lots of tomato seeds in the compost that they were just waiting for the right opportunity to grow. Our compost bin is of course covered and so whatever seeds were there, did not sprout until they were exposed to light and regular water.
So yeah, talk about PERSISTENCY! I really have lots to learn from these tomatoes. They have been the most consistent and persistent in our garden thus far. LOL.
And because of that, I shall not give up and will still try my luck with lettuce in a month or two when the weather is much better.
How about you? How's your garden?
