Titanarum

About 6 weeks ago I spotted a fairly large spider scuttling along the skirting boards. The body was probably the size of a fat raisin and the circumference of the legs when still a fifty pence piece. I can’t pretend I felt warm or relaxed but when it disappeared under my bed I was quietly relieved. Why?

It’s a long story but here goes: Years ago when bizarre thoughts and actions were the order of the day I kept a spider in captivity. It was quite similar to the one I just described. The spider of old was kept in a pint glass and fed the odd fly. The glass was not exactly in the way but it wasn’t out of the way either. Sitting in my living room near the armchair I was always aware of it. Even when I wasn’t at home I was aware of it. I do not know why I kept it. I didn’t like it. I could have chucked it out of the window like I normally do.

But I decided to keep it. It didn’t like its cage. During the first few weeks it would jump against the glass trying to topple it. Even after having been fed a fly it would behave angrily. But gradually it seemed to grow more apathetic. I felt very guilty but I didn’t release it. I knew then how valuable and useful spiders are but I left it in that glass for weeks on end till eventually, one day, it had stopped living. I did wrong. And that is why, to pay penance, the spider under the bed is safe with me.

Sometimes, but not often, it is hard to decide what is best. Take parsley. Flat leaved is the variety preferred by the southern Europeans whereas the Brits and the northern European populations prefer it curly leaved. They both taste wonderfully sweet but in terms of perfume I find the curly variety unsurpassed. But why put yourself in the awkward position of having to choose? Just grow both. How? Well follow the instructions on the packet. That’s what I do. Just bear in mind that they take forever to sprout. Unless I put a stick or stone where I’ve sown it I tend to forget and suddenly have a field of parsley competing with runner beans or whatever. But should that happen to you be comforted that the young parsley plants do survive being transplanted if done with tenderness. Because gardening isn’t just a mechanical process. Feelings can make all the difference to a crop. Say you go to your plot or garden feeling moody and take out all your bad feelings on a defenceless sapling by tramping on it. That means it won’t crop. But say, you decide to take out your bad feelings on the weeds. That means the cultivars have a much better chance of thriving. Feelings are very important in gardening but they must be controlled.