The Sad Story of the Shiso Seeds

... but with a happy ending!

I was so happy when I came home one night and there was an envelope with a German stamp "Hurrah!" I thought, "my shiso seeds have arrived". I also had the more ominous "we can't deliver your item" card. It turned out it was for a bank statement.

The seeds came from @akipponn, who is experimenting with seed sharing and plant swaps. You can find out more by following @planthub. For a few steem to cover postage, @akipponn had offered to share her red and green shiso seeds from Japan. It was so exotic, how could I resist?

I couldn't make up my mind whether to have red or green shiso (there's also a red and green variety). I thought the red would look lovely in the garden, but after doing some research, I found the flavour of the green shiso is more favoured.

Inside the envelope were my seeds, some instructions (in Japanese) and a note from @akipponn. I was so happy, it was ridiculous! I did wonder, though, about the greasy marks on the little packet containing the seeds ...

I had used all my potting compost on my little potatoes and I had to make a trip to the nursery to buy some more. I have no gardener now (he's at University) to help me with heavy things, so I improvised with this little sack barrow.

This ice cream container is from last summer. I thought it would be perfect for seeds and the lid would form a good water tray. I made holes in the bottom of the container using a thin screwdriver heated in the flames of the gas hob.

But tragedy when I opened the packet of shiso seeds! They had been crushed in their journey through the post. I was heartbroken. I had to throw them away.

I remembered I had saved some coriander seeds from last summer. It was part of a contest by @phoenixwren. So I planted those seeds instead.

All is not lost!

I am going to get some more seeds from @akipponn.
This time in a padded envelope :)

In case you are wondering, my little potatoes are doing well. This picture was taken on Sunday. They are about twice the size now. Their brothers are ready to plant in the potato bags I bought. That's a job for the weekend.