That Reluctant Rosemary

That darn rosemary! Who would have thought rosemary would be so hard to start from seed? We had rosemary for several years on our desert terrace and it didn't seem like anything could kill it. But try to get it to germinate from seed--that's another story.

All my little herb pods are blissfully sprouting, except for the rosemary. And I'll be darned if I will surrender defeat over four reluctant pods. Should I try talking to them? There are people who do that, I'm sure. I've always thought that bordered on lunacy, but then...maybe that's why I have never been able to boast of a green thumb.

Hmm...I wonder if this is crop karma. After all, we had some perfectly hearty rosemary growing off that terrace before my husband, the bonsai master, decided to yank it all up and replant the plot with cactus. I was not responsible for that rosemary's removal; but I confess I did little to stop its demise. In my husband's defense, I must admit those bushes were less than endearing. Although their fragrance was intoxicating, the plants drew bees to our pool area by the swarm. And it was a rather headstrong shrub, hardly neat or trainable.

Still...it probably didn't deserve to be cast aside in such a cavalier manner. Somewhere in the cosmic universe is that discarded rosemary whispering to my herb seeds? "Don't sprout for her. She's fickle. She'll only tire of you and throw you away."

So...I'm off to whisper words of encouragement to my reluctant seed pods. It couldn't hurt.

The Kitchen Garden Novice