Sunday, August 28, 2011

Prologue: Sprouting an Idea

     One fateful day last May I bought a bundle of mint sprigs from the Pike Place Market.  In an attempt to extend the life of the mint I placed the bundle into a glass of water.  Little did I know to what extent I would be extending their lives.  
          There ended up being more mint than I had cared to use, so most of it just sat in the water for weeks, wilting and turning brown.  When I finally got around to throwing out the mint, I discovered that the stems had grown long, white roots.  I immediately recognized this as "vegatative reproduction", a form of asexual reproduction.  Excited that something I read about in a biology textbook actually had real world applications, I searched my apartment for any dirt I could use to plant the mint in.  As luck would have it, I happened to have a pot of dirt on hand (the plants that previously occupied the pot had recently been destroyed by my dog).  I planted the two sprigs that had the healthiest looking leaves.

(6/8/11)

            I was happy to read, on Wikipedia, that mint is an "invasive species" that can grow in all kinds of shade and sun.  And, it grows best in temperate climate--perfect.  

"An invasive species," I thought to myself, "Just like me..."  I began to feel a connection with this plant.

In only a couple days, it began sprouting branches:

 (6/10/11)

(6/12/11)

And then, in a matter of weeks...

(7/28/11)
   

     What was once a couple of twigs was now a small bush running out of space to grow.  I was feeling rather proud of myself; I don't think I'd ever grown anything successfully.  
     
       Later on, while walking my dog along a dirt trench that surrounds a parking lot, I had an idea: I could grow mint in this dirt trench!  And then, like the mint plant itself, the idea quickly grew: I could grow mint in every dirt trench, in every planter box, in every crack in the cement!  Seattle will become a fresh-smelling forest!  
        And this is what my blog is going to be about; my efforts to grow mint on the streets of Seattle.  I'm not sure if this is a science experiment, an art project, a strange hobby, or ecoterrorism.  But I think it's interesting.  I hope you will stop by now and then to check on the growth of this blog as it reports the growth of my mint.

2 comments:

  1. Awesome. I love mint, the smell of them everything. Yum. I hope you can grow more mint in Seattle.

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  2. This just sparked an idea.. Could you send yerba maté seeds my way?

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