Friday 30 May 2014

Gardens are everywhere - veg in the verge

My broad beans are coming along very well this year, with the beans already rounding out. I plant them in among the flowers, because I have no space and anyway the bees don't categorise. The gooseberries, too. They're both vigorous plants that can see off the competition, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised to see them springing up in unusual places. However, I struggle to see how either of these plants ended up in these places:


The broad bean is in a grass verge by a busy A road.  It's not near any gardens -- a service road separates it from the houses.  So a series of questions present themselves. How did it get there (I think it could only have been planted)? How did it outcompete the grass (it's right behind the wall - possibly others did not)? and will it survive the attentions of the municipal mowers (alas no - it's gone now, though I suppose it might have been rescued by its planter)?

The gooseberry is growing in a crack in the cobbles by a community centre, a long way away from any gardens, occasionally swept by a litter of fag butts of sweet wrappers. Barring any kind of terrible jam or pie accident (which I suppose is possible) I would have to describe this one as planted by bird's arse.

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