Adventures in our Community 'Ashtray'

Outside my favourite Community Cafe, there stands a large ashtray tub. It is approximately 1.5 meters diameter, and 1 meter high. Solid with earth. Similar ones in eyeshot do have some rather plain looking shrubs.

With a flash of inspiration, I decided to plant – something. I cleared the cigarette ends and watered the large tub well over a day or so. What to grow? Fast and easy? Mustard seed worked well in biblical times.... So, some were planted and watered. Fast growing! When I looked round again, there were sprouts appearing. Well, almost. This was when the existing occupants of the ashtray made their invisible existence known and they were apparently hungry. Though never at times when anyone was looking at them!

The mustard sprouts got fairly quickly munched. Presumably much better tasting than cigarette ends. More please! With a subsequent greater weight of mustard seeds applied, the invisible hungry mini critters were either satisfied, or looking for something less hot than mustard leaves.

Thinking ahead, I mused that even though some of the Cafe customers and passing locals expressed interest in this 'agricultural' initiative, it might be useful to also plant something more conventional. That is when the pansy (flower) seeds were used. I soon discovered that these were 100 times slower than mustard seed. Imagination helped.

The local council – street lighting, cleaning, and trees and flowers – were prompted by the Cafe manager and were good enough to also water this tub when they regularly watered other ones nearby.

Time passed. The vegetation still seemed a bit thin so I found even more mustard seed, in some quantity, black type, sold for the benefit of the soil – farming, cultivating etc. This also grew energetically. The pansy seeds had sprouted by now, though were still very shy.

At least the cigarette ends were not coming in so fast! The mustard was certainly now a flourishing bushy cluster and soon would be showing some of its tiny flowers. The pansy plants were now, I think, waiting for next year. But at least, the mustard was making a proud showing, if a little unruly, as apparently mustard is wont to do.

Then one morning, the sun rose over a suddenly, strangely, almost empty tub! What had happened?

The Cafe manager HAD told the official Gardener that 'Hey there are pansy plants there!' and the response was a 'reassuring' It's OK. I'm only clearing the weeds!

Hello, to Ashtray Street once more! It keeps the pavement tidy at least. It was the stuff of comedy, depending on the way you could tell it. Upon reflection it came to mind what ARE 'weeds' ? In nature there aren't any weeds, just things growing. And I suppose it had been a long long time since our friendly gardener had grown mustard and cress on his window sill for fun and to eat.

With a broader view, it occurred to me that if we see our job as truly only doing one single minded thing, then our whole planet might easily become a giant ashtray? Mmm.

There IS good news. During this horticultural exercise, it was learned that officialdom had decided to offer the tubs to the nearby shops, to adopt! Maybe someone was a bit telepathic? 

Happy days!