Oh my the insects here are gargantuan! As big as the dreaded woodchucks that used to menace gardens on Earth, back when gardens were a thing. That planet had gradually became unsuitable for plant life, as well as life of most kinds, as a result of widespread war activity, and chemical experimentation of all kinds. It wasn’t the overuse of fossil fuels, it wasn’t because of excessive CO2 or global warming. Instead, sociopaths in pursuit of money, the same sociopaths who insisted we should eat bugs, nearly killed off all life on earth by spewing poisons everywhere.
Parsley was the first popular and plentiful plant to go extinct. Did the sociopaths change course? No indeed, they told us to use viburnum leaves instead, which were still aplenty in those days, but tasted terrible. Next to go were all the other herbs. These plants were especially sensitive to reductions of CO2. Food on Earth became nearly flavorless for our final 200 years on the planet, until finally there was little left to eat besides bugs, which turned out to be unsuitable for human nourishment.
A few of us did survive, those of us foraged in the few remaining pristine woodlands. As those woodlands began to die from poisoning too, efforts were finally made to flee the planet, and to find a new place to sustain human life.
That brings us, via a much shortened story, to today. Our new home planet is humid, hot, and very lush, much like tropical zones on Earth were in the 20th century. Humans seem to be the only animal. We brought along vast seed banks, expecting to recreate the foodstuffs we grew back on Earth.
Almost all creatures here can fly – we seem to be the only planet-bound creatures. It would have been quite a disadvantage had the creatures, mostly insects, of this new planet cared to harm us. Fortunately, the creatures do not seem to need our flesh to survive, so few things attack us. That is a nice change from the dangers that awaited us in the forests back home, where many bugs had become monstrous with fatal stings as a result of GMO modifications and deliberate weaponization by the sociopaths. By the time we left Earth, we did not often leave our homes, and our gardens were confined to vertical hydroponic indoor spaces.
Coming here was a delight! We could go outside and enjoy nature again. Our hopes rose. Efforts to plant our precious seeds began immediately.
None of the seeds thrive here. Something is different about the soil. We kept planting our seeds, hoping our compost toilets would help transform the soil so that our seeds could survive in it, but after six months, we still had nothing that would grow well enough for us to harvest.
When our food stores became low, we were forced to forage. Nothing was familiar, and try as we might, we could not find any foods that provided nourishment. Worse yet, everything tasted like Viburnums.
Yesterday I wandered a bit farther than any of us ever had before.
You know how, if you are blindfolded and someone puts a familiar food under your nose, you just can’t identify what it is? Even an orange is baffling if you can’t also see it. That’s what I felt as I walked along. A delicious smell, which I simply could not pinpoint, wafted over me. I began to salivate. It was something that would have been loved back home on Earth, I knew that much, but what? I kept walking, like Dorothy in the poppy fields, delighted, entranced, and very very hungry.
I entered a small forest of what appeared to be stunted pine trees. These trees were all exactly alike, as if a bonsai master had trimmed every single one to be the exact same shape. The place was picture perfect. And it smelled heavenly.
I rushed into the forest to find the forest floor covered in a fragrant and dark green leafy understory that called out to me to be eaten. Perhaps unwisely, I stuffed my mouth with the stuff and chewed delightedly. It was delicious! No ill effects from my first mouthful, so I went for another. And another.
Bliss! I hadn’t tasted anything so fresh in my life. I grabbed as much as I could hold in my arms, and hurried back to the settlement to share the great news – an edible green!
When I got back, folks were happy, but wary. All caution was thrown to the wind, however, when one of us managed to identify the herb.
Parsley!
This is my entry to Hive Garden Community's new and improved creative garden challenge for August. Come join in the fun! You have a large choice of topics to write for. I chose to write about starting a garden on a new planet. 
images are by me