sAbout three weeks ago I planted my garden. Some of the plants I got from the store, but most of them I started from seed. Under the right conditions (e.g., temperature, moisture levels, sunlight, etc.) most of the things I planted are expected to germinate between 7 to 21 days. However each plant has it’s own window that may be narrower. For instance, the cucumbers I planted were the first to sprout, about 5 days after they were planted. The eggplant I planted only sprouted in the third week about 15 days after planting. The acorn and spaghetti squash I planted still haven’t popped up and the Brussels sprouts have such tiny sprouts I can’t tell if they’ve popped up or not…
Even within the same plant type the time it took for different seeds to pop up varied. For some veggies—like my zucchini—I could see the second seed beginning to break the soil when the first seed sprouted. Only hours passed between the first seed sprouting and the second. In other cases—like my yellow squash—it took about a day for the second seed to start breaking the ground. With my eggplant, it actually took almost a week for the final plant to sprout.
Once the plants did sprout I was awwed by their differences. The Brussels sprouts, eggplants, and tomatoes I planted are almost microscopic, but the squash and zucchini are almost big enough to be watered by pitcher. Even the beans, which came up later than almost everything in the garden, is a substantially sized seedling. None the less each of these will grow in to decent sized plants that produce food I can eat. I will get multiple medium sized tomatoes of the plant that grows from those tiny seedlings the same way I will get pods of beans from the bean plant. Not only will each produce edible fruit, but they’re all going to produce fruit this year. We’re not talking about an asparagus or pineapple that takes 3 years to grow. Each of these will be harvested this summer, some may be even around the same time!
Humans aren’t so different. We grow at different rates. we start our journeys at different times. Some of us are tall and slender. Some are short and stocky. Yet we all have the potential to produce fruit.
