Oscar: ‘Mama. Do you know that you can plant seeds on the moon?’
Me: ‘No. Can you?’
Oscar: ‘Yep. You definitely can. The man on the radio said so.’
Me: ‘How would you do that, given the lack of gravity?’
Oscar: ‘Well. First you would dig a hole with a spade. Then you would put the seed in. You would cover it with earth afterwards. You could bring the earth in the rocket. You would also bring your watering can, because if you don’t water the seed, it just won’t grow.’
Me: ‘But what about the no gravity thing?’
He ignores me and chatters on happily about the plant growing and growing and growing.
Clearly I am a fool. If the man on the radio hasn’t mentioned gravity, then we don’t want to be fussing ourselves about it.
I change tack
Me: ‘What kind of plant would you grow on the moon?’
Oscar: ‘A tall one.’
Me: ‘No. I mean is it a flower or a vegetable, or a tree? What does the seed grow into?’
The look on his face only confirms his suspicion that I am a total imbecile who should not be trusted with the care of small children.
Oscar: ‘Tomatoes of course.’
You idiot is clearly the sub text of that line.
And, purely on a point of information, there IS gravity on the Moon, just a lot less of it (about one sixth of Earths’). Oscar is also correct they’d be very tall (for the same reason).
Of course, the lack of air and extreme temperatures (107C in the day or -153C at night) might put the mockers on the whole experiment.
Clearly better stick to the native species, of which the disadvantage is that they’re evidently invisible…
Ignoring the practical difficulties in true Oscar-style, tomatoes are the obvious choice! They would go so well in sandwiches with the cream cheese
PS I wonder if moon-dust is salty . . . I do like a sprinkle of salt on my tomatoes.
Charles
I love your scientific approach. I will tell Oscar.
Noreen
Or under the surface like the soup dragons with their blue string soup
Sharon
So do I. My mum has some particularly delicious tomatoes at the moment and I have been eating them dipped in salt for the last few days. mmmm.x