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.
