Just when I had almost given up…

…I noticed something had changed while we were failing to photograph the monarch egg and I stepped into the kitchen for some reason I can’t recall now.  I happened to glance over at the pot on the counter, and was five years old all over again.

This is one of the indoor pots I had planted seeds in back on June 18th, and for weeks I was making sure it got time in the window, watered it, talked to it.   Nothing changed.  Was the pot too big for watering from below, I wondered?  I pondered that again in the last week, and changed to watering directly on the top instead of allowing the water to wick up from the bottom.  Still…nothing.

With no growth in site, I thought I was just doomed to start anything inside our home because there really isn’t much strong sunlight to be had given the orientation of the home and nearby obstructions like our neighbors’ homes and trees.  I was also once again wondering if perhaps the potting soil had gone bad even though I’ve read it’s not very likely since that original concern and at least one outdoor plant had survived transplant into another pot I had started earlier in the year.

I was trying to decide if it was time to give up the ghost and put the greenless pot away for the year, debating if I should dump the soil outside or back in the bag.  The other pot I’ve left because I had planted one of the maple saplings in there, and have been finding a little pleasure watching it continue to grow since nothing else seemed to be indoors of late other than our violet which still won’t bloom again.

For what it’s worth, the fact that the maple is doing so well is why I did think the potting soil was fine.  I did amend it by dumping spent tea leaves on it one day, and the tree just keeps on keeping.  Might not have been good for the other seeds I planed back when, though.

Truth is, I was wrong about giving up “so soon”.  It had been only 33 days since I planted them.  Why did I remember it as being much longer even when I had the data right here where all can see?  I dunno, and that part I really feel silly about.  Still, this is one of those times when you feel SO DARN GOOD to be wrong.

I think one of each (pencil corn and fairytale pumpkin) of the two seeds made it from what I can see.  They’ll be younger siblings to the survivors outside, which was something we had hoped to do–vary the harvest times for plants.  So this is double wonderful right now.  Both should be ok at this stage of the growing season, as they’re likely to mature at the tail end before frosts start threatening again.

What I can’t recall because I was still bad at keeping records then (ok, I admit I am also bad at using said records I actually managed to keep too) is where I planted the latest of the flower seeds in pots.  This was a bigger pot, so it would make sense I’d try some flowers in there, but I’m not certain.

So far none of the flower seeds I put in pots has amounted to anything.  I’d have to check their packages to be sure, but I think they’re all past their “due date”, as it were.

Time will tell!