Plant Requiem

We have covered Deb’s mobile herb garden in previous posts. They have typically lived in three pots located on top of the galley garage behind the cook top. Historically, they have lived quite happily there. There was one incident however (courtesy of Steve Dashew – not that I am mentioning names mind you).

Steve was with us on a trip down from the Bay of Islands in gale conditions and decided he wanted to test the boat in beam sea conditions without the stabilizers on. Well one of the pots didn’t think much of that and launched itself off the garage. The result was dead plants and a terrible mess, but Steve was pleased with the rest of the evaluation. But then he didn’t have to clean up the mess.

Anyway, all of last cruising season the plants in the three containers lived happily behind the stove (after the first casualties were taken care of). This year a new group of plants took up residence in the same location but the Tasman, Southern Ocean, Cook Straight, Cape Reinga and the Foveaux Straight had different ideas.

After several messes, the plants were relegated to the back deck. There, the aforementioned location proceeded to anihilate them with a gruesome combination of wind and sea water. As the plants died, there remains (along with dirt) were scattered all over the back deck. An even bigger mess.

The final straw came when said debris ended up in the guest head. The hatch, you see, is well protected and we leave it open to ventilate the head and the boat. At that juncture, much against Deb’s protest, the plants were given a suitable burial at sea.

(Do you hear Taps playing in the background?)