An Orange Grove

Well, almost. Read on, dear reader, read on.

I bring home the paper coffee cups whenever I meet a friend or colleague at the coffee shop across the street.

I bring home the wooden stir-sticks as well!

From the restaurant I winkle the pips from the silly little wedges of lemon they insist on placing in my glass of "plain water", and I hang on to my grapefruit seeds each morning.

I punch two holes in the base of each cup, using a pencil especially ruined for that purpose.

Vermicompost and peat moss mixture into the cup, press down one seed, water every two days with water that has passed through my grey water recycling system.

And before you know it, the seeds are sprouted!

I put each coffee cup into a larger plastic pot. The pots are discarded by local residents and can be collected by the hundreds for free. By transferring the entire paper cup, I do not disturb the tender root ball.

You can see how tall and healthy the seedlings are, after only a couple of weeks growth.

In the shot below I managed to obtain even larger pots.

The pots sit on a plastic sheet on the balcony to save space in my bedroom, and to give the trees a chance to become hardy.

And this is how they turn into an orange grove!

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