Uninvited Fronds

We’ve got a gatecrasher. Two in fact. Two fine little grass blades are spearing their way up and into our lives. My instinct was at first to unthinkingly pluck them, they weren’t part of the plan, and so needed to be dealt with. But I hesitated. On what basis do we decide that one life is more valuable than another? These decisions are seeming to me more and more subjective and arbitrary. Purslane is unthinkingly plucked by many a gardener, not acknowledged for potential value, not part of the plan. My Dad turns up his nose when I try to tell him how yummy I think it is. I gathered the seeds for my purslane fronds from volunteer plants in my veggie bed, which may have sprouted from Dad’s compost. This may be the origin of our new interlopers also. Is it absurd to weed a weed? Could I come to love these interlopers as I do the intentional fronds? Or is it best to remove them for the wellbeing of purslane and honesty? A similar dilemma is whether to thin out honesty- there are two growing quite close together, and I’m not sure whether when it comes to planting out they will be too difficult to separate. I’m not sure yet on the answers to these questions, I’m going to continue to observe and see what happens.

You can just make out one of the grass blades in the top right. You can also see purslanes’ leaves folded up for the night, and the more dominant honesty blocking its smaller companion from sight.