happylife

Transplant

A few days ago, I moved the basil, which was almost withered, from a small flowerpot to a larger one so that it grows thick again. It seems to have grown well since then under the sunlight which is rare in this season. I have recognized the importance of the size of flowerpot as well as the sunlight. It is very important for plants how widely and deeply they can spread their root in the soil. When I transplanted the basil, I found its root was extended and tangled in the small flowerpot. It was so tangled that all the soil came with the root in a shape of the pot when I picked up the basil. I regretted to have done this move earlier. I hope it grows until the new flowerpot is covered with the tasty basil leaves again.

Rebirth

Though my pop-corn tree has completely dried up, the basil in my room has come to life again. It was last November when I decided to give up cropping it and now, two months after the fasting, it has yielded a few new leaves. I was happy to find them, but I won't restart cropping it because it is too early yet. I don't like to let them wither by over cropping again. As the pot looks too small now I'm thinking about moving it to larger one. The larger pot for the died pop-corn has become empty just in time and I have some leaf mold left. I feel a little bit excited to consider such things. I'm happy to have found the fun of growing plants. It is a different kind of fun from any other activities in the virtual world.

The crop

I decided to harvest the pop-corn tree in my room at last. It had only two tiny corn ears but no more growing could not be expected because it was completely dried up. I picked them up easily with my fingers and peeled off the thin and crisp skin to find only dried-up corn seeds. They were so small, dried-up and little in numbers that I can't enjoy them as pop-corn which had been my dream for these past several months. The reason for this failure of growing a pop-corn is clear; there had not been enough sunlight since last autumn. If I began growing it a few months earlier, I must have seen another result. Anyway, I found a bigger, firmer and brown corn seed in the dried-up seeds. It looks like the original pop-corn seed. I'm thinking about growing it after spring comes. I dream the third generation of the pop-corn grow thick under the strong sun light.

Sunlight

The pop-corn tree in my room looks like almost withered. All the parts including the ear of corn, the stem and the leaves have turned into brown. I think the water and the soil is enough in volume, but the light is recently too short and faint. It's quite natural for plants not to live without enough lights. Though I am usually awake and the lights are always on in my room, it can't replace the real sunlight. Anyway, I heard an interesting story about the sunlight. It was said that if the sun is a bowling ball placed at the center of a football field, the earth is a piece of peppercorn placed on the goal line. The solar system is so empty and the sunlight is so strong. May the sun come back like in summer for a few days and help this pop-corn.

The second ear

The pop-corn in my room has born the second ear of corn at the joint part between the leave and the stem, adjacent to the first one. It is smaller but has the same kind of corn silk. How many ears of corn does an ordinary corn tree bear? My pop-corn tree has now six large leaves and the bottom two of them have born ears. It is quite possible that the other four leaves have own ears, but I wonder whether the stem can hold so many ears. It is not so thick. I don't expect "sextuplet." All I want is the first child grow healthy, and if possible, I want to cook and enjoy this second generation of pop-corn.

Indiscriminate deforestation

I was told the other day that I have a green thumb because I have raised a corn tree from a piece of popcorn. However, I don't think I deserve the name because I have weakened the basil which my friends gave me a few months ago. The reason is apparent; that is to say, I have picked too much leaves just to taste them. It was like an indiscriminate deforestation in my room. The basil forest has been getting thinner day by day and only several leaves and lots of stems without leaves are left. I have to stop picking the leaves until it recovers. Otherwise, the precious forest would die out someday soon.

Corn silk

I found a few days ago, the corn in my room had hair like object which is called "corn silk" in English. To my surprise, it was coming not from the head part with flower but from the bottom of the stem. (the red circled area in the picture) The location was different from my expectation, but I felt relief because I had been wondering it might break if it bore on the end of the stem which was not thick enough. I'm impressed day by day, by the well designed system of this tiny plant. I think it would bear a mature corn cob within a month. I'm really looking forward to it.

popcorn blast movie

Popcorn flowers

I was surprised to see the head of the survived popcorn was yellow in color this morning. It has finally got flowers. Precisely speaking, the yellow things are not flowers but pollen, and the petal is too small and thin to be observed by the naked eye. It's really interesting to watch how it grows everyday. I'm now expecting to see how it grows into ear of corn, but I'm wondering whether it happens without another popcorn because most plants need mating. All I can do is watering everyday and watching it with love.

The next generation

The popcorn in my room has finally born seeds. I was very happy to find these seeds because I hadn't expected them. Seeds are great because they are the next generation. It means that they can self-reproduce themselves and increase in number forever. Any man-made machines or software have never had this function as far as I know. When I recall the beginning of this great plant - it was only three months ago, and it was just a tiny piece of popcorn - I can't help being impressed. I'm looking forward to watching they grow into a familiar style of corns. Cropping the corns and cooking them is my dream.

Basil

My friends gave me a pot of basil which had grown so rapidly that they couldn't consume it by themselves any more. My room is now full of green plants, the popcorn and the basil. Green color is often said to be relaxing and I really agree with this idea. They are now good accents in my filthy and lifeless room. Furthermore, this basil has a good smell and is even edible. I'm sometimes picking up the leaves both to eat and trim. It's very interesting. I'm thinking about growing other edible plants like radish or mint. It might be a good idea to survive the dark winter in Vancouver with these green plants full of life.