It started innocently enough with some packets of seeds in May…

or the green thumb I never knew I had…

Stuck at home during the Covid-19 lock down and trying to keep the kitchen stocked amid sporadic shortages on supermarket shelves and the impossibilty of getting delivery slots for online grocery orders, I stared at frustration at the well-stocked gardening section of my local supermarket. On impulse I picked up a few packets of seeds. “Fine, if canned tomato sauces and purees, and bottled pasta sauces keep running out, I am going to have to go up the supply chain and start growing tomatoes.”

I knew next to nothing about growing stuff and the previous attempt to build a modest herb garden 2 years ago at the lift lobby of my apartment had failed miserably. Cabin fever and a need to feel in control fuelled the delusional impulse. And going home, searching for garden centres doing deliveries, I found plentiful inventories of everything I needed – soil, pots, tools, and more importantly, available delivery slots.

So there I was, 17 May, standing over a modest supply of pots, soil, substrates (because the garden centre said perlite and coco pith is good for the soil) and tools that had just been delivered, Horti cherry tomatoes seed packet in hand. Enlightened by a quick review of a few Youtube videos, my youngest daughter and I filled a small pail with top soil, compost, perlite and coco pith and mixed it all up. Then we filled small germination pots with the mix. I slit open the seed packet and poured out some seeds.

“How many seeds in each pot, mommy?”, my little one asked.

“Err… let’s put 4 or 5 seeds in each pot”. I was thinking to myself that maybe most may not even end up sprouting. So she scattered them into the 4 pots that we had filled with soil mixture.

We watered them and then left them in a larger hanging pot over a balcony railing. 3 days later, the first seedling, raring to go, poked its seed leaves out from the soil mix, tips moist with morning dew.

Over the next few days, more would follow and we eventually had 19 little baby tomato seedlings. And soon, tiny true leaves followed. They looked so fragile, I thought most would not make it. So instead of picking out the weaker ones and commiting plant genocide, I transplanted all, even the weaker ones into the Baba Vege Tray filled with the same soil mix as what had been mixed for the small germination pots.

Over the next 3 months, these little toughies survived everything nature threw at them: torrential downpours that nearly drowned one; a HUGE hungry caterpiller that chewed away the leaves off the top of the main stem of one, causing it to be amputated; nymphs having leaf-orgy parties on the underside of some of the leaves; leaf miners making patterns chewing inside the leaves; scorching afternoon sun. And mostly, they just grew and grew.

Soon, they were transplated from the vege tray into individual pots and grow bags. Some were caged and eventually outgrew their cages and had to be trickily freed from their cages to be supported by stakes, twines and clips. More transplants into larger pots followed. And now, a handful are taller than 1.4 meters. Trusses of flowers formed and the first pollinated buds began to fruit.

Along the way, I somehow amassed more plants and pots. Today, counting all of them, I was shocked to find out that I have about 72 pots/trays of different plants, with more growing out of their baby trays waiting to be transplanted into bigger pots.

I hope to share my story of discovery, trials and errors, and mistakes with you – to geek out in the garden, so you don’t have to. This is my plant mama story and I hope it inspires you to green our planet along with me.