Oh. Crap. For a hopeful second I thought my new passionfruit had just been yanked out of the pot, but no, it was snapped in half as well and below the graft too. Thank you, SP. We owned that plant intact for approximately 40 minutes, which I think might be a new record for a plant death in our garden.
But, hope springs eternal (it must, when you are a parent, and when you are a gardener too; I think we are inherently optimistic people) and as we were about to rush off to a dinner date I shoved the stems and roots back in the pot and I'll have another look at it tomorrow to see if I can try my hand at grafting and rescue it. Maybe? Possibly? Or see if it will send out shoots from the top section of the graft? Gah, I don't know!
Here's a photo of the culprit as she contemplates destroying my baby beans or pulling out a bok choy instead...
What are the keys to gardening with toddlers? Only that you need patience, tolerance, a sense of humour, and to try not to get too upset when plants are pulled out, or sat on, or trodden on. It's all terribly interesting when you are 18 months old after all, even when you have the attention span of a mayfly.
3 comments:
My 22 month old brought me a 'present' this morning of some chilli's be helpfully pulled out of their pots - fortunately he managed to get quite a few roots with the plants so you never know they may survive. With your passionfruit perhaps try putting some rooting hormone on the top part and pot it up as you would a cutting. Then if your grafting skills don't work that might.
culprit?hehe young gardener:)
My 24 months old makes my heart beat fast whenever he joins in gardening. He likes to dig places where he should not and uproot plants. But sowing sweet corn and pumpkin is fun together as it is easy for them to hold the seeds. Mine like to pull young carrots that have not grow any root to enjoy.
Post a Comment