Sea Debris?

There was a little swirl of synchronicity flowing around today. I'd been reading @freespiral's post about polluting the ocean. Pottering in the kitchen I heard a Radio 4 programme about the sheer volume of man-made debris at the bottom of the ocean, mainly plastic. If I remember the figures correctly what we see on the surface and on the shoreline is only 30%, the other 70% is buried deep down, another scary thought.

And the tomatoes? Look closely and you'll see they are growing on the beach, just beyond the high water mark. I've been picking them since I first saw them a couple of weeks back. They grow right beside my sit-spot. Yesterday I opened my eyes and saw that there are in fact around thirty plants, half a dozen bearing fruits, and spreading right along the base of the much-maligned (by me) sea defences. I doubt they're going to get any more red. So I may harvest the remainder and make some green tomato chutney this weekend.

My lovely neighbour Nick who keeps the shared part of our garden immaculate has what I considered to be a bad habit of throwing all the garden waste over the sea wall. My dad's job after the war was dumping surplus munitions at Beaufort's Dyke further down the Clyde. When it began to come ashore I felt some residual family guilt, so I'm a bit sensitive about these things.

Last year Nick grew an amazing crop of tomatoes in the greenhouse, from some cheapo plants fromLidl. I'm quite certain these are their progeny, moved a hundred yards westward by the tidal drift, anchoring themselves in the mud and sand churned up by the heavy earth moving equipment I've been documenting for the past year. Everything has settled down now on the earth-moving front. And it looks like we now have our very own Incredible Edible!

One man's naughty debris is another woman's bounty.

♯am reading/writing
♯am swimming

Blessed be.