• Solo • Gardening 101

[Tei'serin Nji'ryn]

33rd Ashan, 717


Tei'serin was exhausted from a long trial of shopping as she made her way back to Valfield Farms. But the idea of learning more about gardening fascinated her. It was more than enough to make her willing to push her departure from the city back a while more if she could get into the gardening class that Kaise had mentioned when she was at the farm earlier. Especially since if she could learn enough about gardening to be able to grow her own herbs, it would be a big help to her as an herbalist. The more herbs she had a reliable supply of, and the fewer she had to go foraging for when she needed them, the better.

"You came back!" a young voice exclaimed excitedly.

Tei'serin grinned as she looked up to see Kaise running towards her.

"I hoped that you would. Come on! Dad's going to start the class in a few bits, and there's a few spots left!"

Tei'serin's grin widened as she allowed the young girl to pull her over towards a wide open area where there were several square shaped areas where the dirt had been churned up. Other squares sported riots of color, and Tei'serin assumed that these were the gardens that the class would be working with. It helped to see that several people were standing around the group of gardens, and that Kaise was leading her over to them. As they passed the child's father, Tei'serin paused for a few trills so that she could hand him the thirty gold nels she owed him for the lesson. He thanked her quietly, then turned to address the group.

"Since most of you are new to these classes, I am going to assume that none of you know much about gardening. As a result, I will start at the very beginning. If I end up repeating anything that some of you do know, I apologize in advance. So, let's start by me asking you this. Have any of you ever tried your hand at gardening before?"

Kaise raised her hand excitedly, bouncing in place as she did so. Tei'serin grinned at her antics, and several of the other adults smiled, or chuckled in amusement.

"Anyone other than my silly daughter over there?" the man's tone was resigned, but his eyes sparkled with amusement.

Kaise lowered her hand slowly, and pouted for a few trills before settling down once more. This time, a couple of other hands were raised, Tei'serin's hand included.

If you can count digging holes in the dirt, dropping plants in without any clue if you're doing it right and hoping for the best as "gardening." Tei'serin added to herself.

"That's good."

When the farmer saw the startled looks he was getting, he elaborated quickly.

"That means that those of you who didn't raise your hands just now don't have any bad habits that you need to unlearn when it comes to gardening. It also give me a good idea where to start with this lesson."

Off Topic

***Beginner's Gardening Class - 30gn - Bonus 3 skill points for Gardening/Agriculture skills only once thread is completed per individual. For Novice level skills only. From here***

The points will be used for Gardening, and the money for this has been deducted from my ledger.

[Tei'serin Nji'ryn]

"Do any of you know what the difference between farming, or agriculture, and gardening is? I mean...at its most basic level, both involve growing plants."

Tei'serin looked around to see if anyone knew the answer. It was something she had often wondered about in the past. Several of the farmers that lived around Treth had gardens to tend as well as their crops. To Tei'serin, it seemed as if they were just making more work for themselves, but she realized that there had to be a good reason for it. Her neighbors weren't stupid people. If they didn't have a good reason to have their gardens, they wouldn't bother wasting their time with them.

It was obvious to Tei'serin that Kaise knew what the answer was. But her father ignored the young girl's excited bouncing and hand waving. Instead, he looked around to see if anyone else wanted to try to answer the question. Only once he was certain that no one else was going to volunteer did he call on her. Kaise beamed brightly at her father as she started to speak.

"Agri...farming is a business." Kaise began, stumbling over the large word.

"Farmers feed their families first, of course. Anyone would do that. But once the final harvests are in, a large part of farming is taking everything that the farmers and their families don't need, and selling it to farmers' markets, bartering it to other farmers for things they need, or selling it to merchants and restaurants in Ne'haer. And the vast majority of a farmer's crops are things they can't use themselves. Gardening, on the other hand..."

Kaise shrugged.

"Well, you could make a business out of it, I guess. A flower shop might be better off growing their own flowers than to buy them from others before selling them to the public. And some herbalists like to grow their own herbs. But gardening can also be just a hobby. Some people tend a garden just because they enjoy it. You wouldn't really work a farm just because you enjoy it, though. Farming can't really be just a hobby the way that gardening can. Some people do have gardens to help them grow food for their family, but that really isn't the same thing as farming, either. People who garden for that reason always use everything that they grow themselves."

The farmer waited a few trills to see if his daughter was done speaking before he continued.

"Kaise actually touched upon another good point. There are a lot of different kinds of gardens. Some people grow fruits and vegetables to help feed themselves, and their families. Other people grow flowers because they like to spend time working in a garden, or they hope to sell the flowers. Herbalists often have gardens where they grow their own herbs because it is cheaper than buying them from someone else. Sometimes it's because they would rather trust the quality of something they grew themselves rather than risk using something that might be of a lesser quality in their remedies."

Tei'serin found herself nodding in agreement. That was another reason that she really wanted to give growing her own herbs a try.

[Tei'serin Nji'ryn]

"No matter what kind of garden you have, the all have one thing in common; you grow some kind of a plant in your garden. It doesn't matter if it's a tomato vine, or a fancy rose bush, or whatever that really bitter herb is that my wife likes to put in our salads. They're all plants, and every plant needs the same three basic things. Those things are water, sunlight, and soil. The type of soil they need might be different, and they might need different amounts of sunlight and water to survive...but you won't find a plant in all the world that doesn't need at least a little bit of all three of those basic things. No plant that I have ever seen, or heard of, at least."

Tei'serin made a mental note of this. She liked the way that this man taught his students. While she could tell that he was confident in his belief that what he was telling them about a plant's needs was the truth, he was admitting the fact that he had not seen or learned about every plant in the world. With one statement, he was letting them know that he would be willing to admit that he was wrong should someone ever show him proof that he was. Not everyone Tei'serin knew was so willing to admit that they didn't know everything, or that they might be wrong.

"We can get into how much water and sunlight different plants need in other lessons if you decide to continue with this. There is so much to learn about such things that I could offer ten classes about every plant that I know, and still be leaving important information about them out. So. Rather than focus on the details of individual plants, I would like to move on to the bane of all gardeners; weeding. Weeding is an endless task, but it is essential to every garden. When it comes to weeds, one single statement pretty much sums up the basics."

The farmer glanced at his daughter expectantly. Kaise had clearly anticipated this because she stood up taller, and announced in a loud, clear voice:

"Weeds are bad."

This got a laugh from many of the students, Tei'serin included.

"That, at the most basic level is the absolute truth. Weeds are the bane of any garden. And it is absolutely essential for a healthy garden that you keep yours as weed free as you can. In turn, that means weeding, weeding, and just to make things more interesting, more weeding."

This got another laugh from several of the would be gardeners. Once they had settled down, the farmer led the group over to one of the gardens that were already in full bloom. As they approached, Tei'serin could smell the crisp, clean scent of mint. When they reached the edge of the garden, the farmer reached down, and pulled a large mint plant out of the ground by its roots. Tei'serin's eyes widened in shock.

"The next thing you need to know about weeding is that anything that you aren't trying to grow in your garden is a weed as far as that particular garden is concerned. That means that it has to be weeded out."

"That seems like such a waste, though. Mint is a very useful herb, and..."

Tei'serin could readily think of a dozen things that she could use that mint for. Wasting it seemed like a horrible crime. But the farmer was nodding to emphasize his earlier words.

"There are a lot of perfectly good plants that can get into a garden by mistake. Maybe the wind blew a few seeds in, and they took root, or an animal passing through did the same thing. Many of those plants might be very much welcome in another garden. But a garden only has so much space for plants to grow in. No matter how useful a plant might be, if it doesn't belong in your garden, then it is a weed. If you let it, it will crowd out the plants that you do want to grow. It will also compete for the water that you give your garden."

Tei'serin frowned, but she nodded in reluctant agreement. The farmer clearly seemed to know what he was talking about. He walked over to her, and offered her the mint plant. She carefully stripped the plant of its leaves, and tucked them into the herb pouch that she always carried with her.

"Now, that doesn't mean that you can't transplant anything you decide that you want to keep somewhere else if you want to. I've done that myself a time or two. But we can get into how to do that in another class. For now, I'd like you to concentrate on learning how to weed a garden properly."

Tei'serin couldn't help but admire the man's ability to teach. He started by demonstrating the task he wanted them to learn; squatting down to be able to reach the weeds better, them grasping one at a time, and pulling them out by the roots.

"So. The first thing is to be very aware of what belongs in your garden, and what does not. You want to be able to recognize the things you want to keep quickly. Once you know what has to be weeded out, you want to get as much of it out as you can. That will mean you have a few trials more before you have to do it all again. For that same reason, you want to get the weeds out by the roots whenever possible. If the roots are left in the ground, the weeds will grow back faster."

After explaining what he was doing, he gave each of his students a chance to try. As they worked, he watched them closely, and offered advice if they asked, or looked as though they needed it. And since he knew that Tei'serin was interested in the mint, he directed that any mint that they pulled up be set aside so that she could harvest the leaves once the class was over. With his help and advice, it didn't take long for them to finish weeding the garden that he had started them on, and weed two others after that.

"And now you know why I wanted to teach you all how to weed. I get some free labor out of you in the process."

Everyone laughed, and he dismissed the class soon after that. Tei'serin overheard several of the others making plans to come back the next trial, and she found herself wishing that she could come back as well. But living in Treth as she did, it really wasn't practical for her to come in for lessons on a regular basis. Still, Tei'serin promised herself that she would attend at least one lesson every chance she could.

[Alistair]

Tei'serin

Knowledges
Agriculture: the difference between agriculture and gardening is that a farm is a business; a garden can be one, but doesn't have to be
Gardening: there are many different types of gardens; vegetable gardens, flower gardens, and herb gardens are some of them
Gardening: all plants need three basic things - water, soil, and sunlight; the amounts different plants need may vary, but the basic needs remain the same
Gardening: weeds are bad
Gardening: in a garden, everything that is not supposed to be there is a weed
Gardening: how to weed a garden

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Renown: N/A

Points 10, but feel free to utilize your additional points (+3 Gardening or Agriculture) as you see fit.

Comments: This was adorable! I don't know how you manage to be so thorough and so thoughtful when it comes to something as (to me) bleak as gardening, but you've really opened my eyes a bit! Well done, dear, and here are your points!

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