Mystery of the U.P.P. (Unidentified Potted Plant)
By Genipher
@Genipher (5405)
United States
May 23, 2016 11:56am CST
I'm hoping it's a sunflower. But, really, it could be anything. A pea, a green bean, a money tree...well, maybe not that last one.
It was about a month ago, I think, that the kids planted a bunch of seeds. We had two JIFFY greenhouses with little peat holes and the kids filled every slot with seeds, thoroughly mixing things up:
Carrots and beans and sunflowers and cabbage and watermelon and lettuce...
No rhyme or reason. No labels. No order.
Chaos.
Complete disorder and craziness.
And then Murphy's Law was kicked into effect: one of the kids dropped the whole kit and caboodle, scattering dirt and seeds all over the kitchen floor.
Soooo some of the seeds in our mini greenhouse grew and some flat-out died.
I found this ONE plant straggling in the midst of the JIFFY container and adopted it as my own.
But until the thing reveals its identity, I'm at a loss as to what to call it.
Betty or Bob?
Jeanie or John?
This plant is a mystery wrapped in an enigma squeezed into a pot.
It is a surprise.
I love surprises.
Any guesses as to the gender, er, identity of this plant?
3 people like this
4 responses
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
23 May 16
The leaves alone tell me that it is neither a pea nor a sunflower nor a carrot. In fact, the most likely thing it can be is a tomato (I am actually 99% certain).
It's name is therefore Tom!
(Tomatoes don't have a gender. Their flowers all contain both male and female parts (unlike courgettes which have separate male and female flowers).
Now the mystery continues, because we can't tell until it grows a little more and sets fruit, whether it will have large, fat, round beefy tomatoes, teensy little grape sized ones on delicate trusses or whether they will be red, orange, yellow or striped when ripe, or whether they will be long and plum-shaped or fat and smooth or have many creases, like a balloon blown up in a string bag.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
23 May 16
@Genipher Tom is short for Thomas and Thomasina so it's strictly gender-neutral. Shirley was actually a boy's name before it was a girl's name so you could say "Shirley, it's a tomato and not a sunflower!"
I actually KNOW it's a tomato. Those two little leaves at the base of the leaf in front are absolutely definitive, even if the leaf shape weren't on its own. The thing you have to decide now is whether it's going to be a bush type (which doesn't need staking) or whether you should settle it in a large pot with a four or five foot cane to hold it up. (I'd suggest the latter). You'd also be quite safe in treating it as a tomato and getting some liquid tomato feed for it.
1 person likes this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
23 May 16
@owlwings
Hmmmm....Tom, Tom, Tom....I think I'll go with that. My little "Tommy" plant. Cute!
Could I just use rabbit poo to feed it? I have lots of that.
I've rather enjoyed having it on the kitchen windowsill. Gives me something to stare at when I do dishes.
1 person likes this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
23 May 16
Huh. I didn't know that about tomatoes. That's pretty neat! I'm still new to growing things.
I figured my mystery plant wasn't a carrot...I recognize the tops of carrots, since I'm a carrot-top myself. 
I also scratched off pea plant from the list. It just didn't seem right somehow.
But the kids planted a LOT of beans...and all kinds: green beans, pinto beans, etc. so my guess was that it was a bean plant or some kind of flower.
It doesn't look like a flower though?
Aw I was hoping for a sunflower. 
But having something edible is cool, too.
I'll be interested to see if your 99% guess is correct. 
I "think" the kids planted some tomato seeds but I can't be certain...If it IS a tomato, then I'll need a gender-neutral name.
Ideas?
I also scratched off pea plant from the list. It just didn't seem right somehow.
But the kids planted a LOT of beans...and all kinds: green beans, pinto beans, etc. so my guess was that it was a bean plant or some kind of flower.
It doesn't look like a flower though?
Aw I was hoping for a sunflower.
But having something edible is cool, too.
I'll be interested to see if your 99% guess is correct. I "think" the kids planted some tomato seeds but I can't be certain...If it IS a tomato, then I'll need a gender-neutral name.
Ideas?1 person likes this
but it'll be exciting to find out what it will be... 
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
23 May 16
@Genipher *Information that you may not need to know*
The commonest plant to find at a sewage farm is the tomato. The seeds pass through the system and survive all the other stuff that we put down the drain and thrive on the rich soil to be found in the settling tanks.
1 person likes this
