Saturday, April 17, 2010

HE Grows Them

Samuel and I checked out the veggie transplant selection yesterday at Wal-Mart and ended up buying 3 transplants of Buttercrunch lettuce and 2 little bags of seeds. I was a bit reluctant to buy seeds because I wasn't sure how they'd grow if they weren't started indoors and then replanted outside. Luckily, while I was perusing the seed isle (which by the way is incredibly expansive) I asked a nice looking older couple what they knew about lettuce. The wife gave me kind of a funny look and said, "Well, HE grows them," and pointed her thumb at her husband. HE turned out to be a kindly old gentleman who told me pretty much all I ever need to know about lettuce. HE doesn't grow the heads; I told him I didn't want to either. HE said that I didn't need transplants; that I could just use seeds. HE told me that I'd see some little shoots in about 3 days. Then, in true married-for-a-million-years fashion, he pointed his thumb back at his wife and said, "SHE just goes out every day and snips off a few leaves and we eat them the very same day." I showed him the two bags of seeds I'd picked out and told him we were going to plant them soon. HE came back with, "OH...you're getting THAT kind." I just smiled and told him I thought we'd try them.

We talked for awhile about what he had already planted in his garden--2 bags of potatoes from "a fancy catalogue from out east" that are guaranteed to produce 13 (yep, that's right 13...what a weird number) pounds of potatoes each; and a bunch of onions. I told him we'd also planted potatoes and onions and at about that time SHE grabbed his arm and told him she'd picked out her seeds and it was time to go. We wished each other luck with our gardens and went our separate ways.

I left with my transplants and THOSE kinds of lettuce seeds and a smile on my face. How often does a trip to Wal-Mart leave you smiling?! I thought of all the fun we're going to have running out to the garden to get our lettuce and eat it that very day and how my new friends were probably doing that very same thing :) I hope someday someone asks me about lettuce and I can throw my thumb towards Dave and say, "Well, HE grows them!"

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