At first she was nobody. I thought for a while she wasn’t going to pop. She did, on a wet towel after two weeks of sighing and a second round of
beans.
I moved her to dirt. Nothing happened for another two weeks. Everyone else was on ones and threes and her dirt was unbroken. I was getting ready to throw the dirt into the slop bag when, digging around, I saw she HAD sprouted. Just hadn’t found her way to the surface. I righted her, tail down, and tucked her in snug.
I called her Runt. She pretty much sat there, fat cotillion leaves and a hint of possible future green. About two weeks later, after I moved her to the yard with the others, she was gone! I figured some bird snacked on her.
I dug around to learn something about her root structure and there she was, hidden under the dirt! Again! I don’t know if some animal buried her or if she was just super shy. She was intact though, so I righted her and renamed her Sprout.
Later when the others got Ora names she changed to Laura, it is short for Little Ora.
It’s my first grow and I haven’t yet decided if, in the future, I’m going to be ruthless with trouble. My goal is to breed backyard landraces; survivers who like my dirt, my weather, my bugs and my style, who thrive on adversity and recover from setbacks. Keeping her alive, however, has so far proven very satisfying. She’s big and bushy as a bush. That’s her name now, Laura Bush.