NaPoWriMo Day 5

The prompt for Day 5 was: a poem inspired by the name of an ‘heirloom’ plant.

The website gave links to a couple of American seed companies, but I did a search for British heirloom seeds and found plenty of inspiration at The Real Seed Catalogue

The Czar is a tall runner bean with white flowers.
Pink Passion chard is a leafy green vegetable with bright pink stalks.
How could I not put them together in a poem?

Mixed vegetables

King of the allotments they called big Joe,

his veg patch was his pride and his joy.

There wasn’t a plant that he couldn’t grow

be it cabbage, spuds, leeks or pak choi.

Sweet little Sal took the plot next to Joe’s,

Her knowledge and skills were both zero.

She asked his advice on spades, rakes and hoes,

Joe was happy to give her the info.

Sal quickly learnt with Joe’s kind tuition,

soon her carrots and onions grew tall.

Novice Sal became Joe’s competition,

he wished he hadn’t helped her at all.

Jealous Joe did his best to avoid her,

took to gardening at unsocial hours.

Sal missed their chats, their laughter and banter,

felt sad as she tended her flowers.

Joe started weeding early one morning

when a friendly ‘hello’ made him squirm.

Sal had popped up, close by with no warning,

cheery as a bird that’s caught a worm.

Sal said ‘I was just admiring your Czar,

it's the biggest one I’ve ever seen.’

But Joe was squinting at something bizarre,

a bright plant in Sal’s bed, red and green.

‘That’s my Pink Passion,’ said Sal with a smile

‘Come to dinner and you’ll have a taste.

Although chard is best with beans Chinese style …’

Joe began stripping Czar in great haste.

Later that year, at the fruit and veg show

Joe and Sal swept the board together,

then sealed their love with a promise to grow

on a double allotment - forever. 

Some of the lines don’t scan as well as I’d like, and I want to come up with a better title, but I might revisit it and polish it up – one day!