Transplant Shock

                                           Didn't we almost have it all?

I have never grown a fruit or vegetable.  I have managed to keep a plant or two alive, but that's the extent of my green thumb.  But now I'm a mom and a homeowner and I live in a climate with a generous growing season.  Now was the time to garden.

I started at the local organic garden shop where an earnest, young urban farmer gave me a little information and a lot of enthusiasm.  And he sold me one of those flats for growing seedlings indoors.  Look at me, I told myself, I am really something.  I don't have a middle name, but if I did, bet it would be Gaia.  Then, several weeks later, I actually planted the seeds.  This was rather unceremonious and I was very dubious that anything would grow.  It just seemed unlikely that me plopping a few dried up bits into some loose dirt would yield life.  I didn't want to doubt my seedlings, but I did.

But lo and behold, sprouts sprouted! I had icebox watermelon, spring lettuce, chard, sun flowers, and basil in my future.  And so I tended and loved my seedlings.  After they reached a hearty height, I planted them into my raised bed.  They looked glorious in all of their promise.  And so they have stayed, neither dying nor growing a millimeter.  Dormant or comatose for the past month.  Each and every one.

I looked it up online, and apparently seedlings can get transplant shock.  I can relate. I am just getting over my transplant shock myself.  But if these seedlings think that life was so much better in Germany, with it's art, culture and public transportation, maybe someone should remind these seedlings that we were going broke in Germany.  And rarely saw friends or family.  And that I'd never have found a job.  Or that having a second kid would've been extremely challenging.  And, you know what, seedlings?  There is no Shangri-La! Life's pretty good here.  So buck up.  And grow me a melon.  Perhaps I am projecting.  But I don't think so. I really think these seedlings are kind of snobby and they wildly idealize the past.

I am going to go buy a watermelon now.