Sowing Seeds

One day, I had a sudden interest in gardening. I didn't know why. I just wanted to grow a plant. So I went to a nursery with my parents and bought a earthen pot with soil and organic fertilizers in it. Then we bought a packet of seeds. The seeds were of okra plants. Apparently, they were easy to grow.

I was very excited to try my hand at this new interest. At home, I opened the packet of seeds, took a handful of them and strew them into my fertilized soil. How many plants did I intend to grow in that one pot? I did not know. I watered the seeds and left in sunshine.

Every morning, I would wake up and check on my newly planted seeds. For a few days, there was no change at all. I liked to think that the seeds looked bigger everyday. But at one point, I lost hope. I was convinced that nothing was going to grow out of those seeds in that little pile of soil. Perhaps, these plants only grow in huge gardens, given fancy pesticides and fertilizers.

Then one morning, there were purple outgrowths all over the pot. The brown of the soil was covered with tiny, purple plants to be. I was overjoyed. However, I still wasn't putting things in perspective. So I continued to water my purple mass everyday and made sure it received ample sunlight. A few of the purple outgrowths starting growing green leaf-like structures. That seemed perfect.

During one of my routine checks, the plantlets seemed rather dull. The color in them was fading. Soon, they all withered and were left to rot in my prized earthen pot. There went my first gardening experience. I tried to reason why it had failed so terribly. Why could I not grow a single plant? 

My mom came to the rescue. After all my plantlets were dead, she took 5 or 6 seeds and sowed them in the pot. I watered them and watched them go throw the stages I had observed in my previous batch of plants. I had no more hope for these seeds than I had for the ones that had withered. Nonetheless, 4 of the seeds outgrew the others and were on their way to becoming flowering plants. Finally, there were two towering okra plants, pushing out tiny buds that promised fresh okra. We plucked three well grown pieces of okra from the two plants. 

I knew what I did wrong. I could only sow so many seeds at a time.

The amount of effort required to grow two okra plants is far more than I had expected. And the joy of growing your own food is inexplicable.

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