Is It Just Me?
Join Wimberley humorist Susan Rigby as she attempts to navigate “the small stuff.”
It’s time to plant a garden. I have planted a garden for the majority of the years I’ve been – or pretended to be – an adult. I have successfully planted everything from asparagus to zucchini. But for the past two years I’ve succumbed to a tiny packet of seeds that sound great but cause me sleepless nights and an upset stomach. These evil seeds are called, “Spring Mix.”
I know what Spring Mix looks like from the plastic container in the vegetable section of the grocery store. I loved looking at the variety of salad leaves I would soon munch on and felt myself getting healthier just thinking about it. Why spend big bucks on those storebought, ready-to-eat greens when I can grow my own in my pesticide-free garden?
I found a packet of Spring Mix seeds and planted them next to my tomatoes. What a perfect combination – grab some “mix,” some tomatoes and dinner is served!
Soon the seeds started sprouting and I had to wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth as I showered the plants with water.
Then I saw that dreadful weeds were also sprouting. I could no longer tell the Spring Mix from the weed mix, except that some of the leaves sort of looked like spinach. The rest were a mystery. I did get the courage to pick some and make a salad but it didn’t taste like the store-bought mix. What if some of the weeds were poisonous?
The next year, I decided to try again but grew the packet of seeds in a large container by itself. Then everything that came up in the container should be edible, right? Wrong!
I realized that weed seeds fly through the air and land wherever they please, even in my Spring Mix container.
Once again I could not tell what was edible and what were weeds.
I have promised myself that no matter how good the Spring Mix looks on the seed packet, this year’s garden will only include heads of lettuce.
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