Week 6, Year 2: Winter Notes

Since shutting down my garden for winter, I've kept a pretty low profile gardening wise. However, I do have one project in the works - my herb garden. For Christmas, my in-laws bought me these cute and arty seedling kits from Restoration Hardware. They are part of a gardening collection designed by local Wisconsin potter, Guy Wolff. The first set is the "Italian" Collection with Parsley, Oregano and Basil.

The second set is the "French" Collection with Thyme, Sage and Rosemary.

My new nursery was born in the new year and at approximately 5-6 weeks is doing pretty well.

In researching herbology, I learned that most herbs like to be "misted" (like African Violets) rather than watered directly. So, my husband bought me an industrial nozzle sprayer and a small travel hairspray bottle to experiment with. The heavy duty one emits a large spray, but it can be a bit like a tidal wave on some of the more delicate babies (e.g., the Parsley). The hairspray bottle is so small, however, that it needs to be refilled 2-3 times per watering. My research also suggested that herbs should not be overwatered either, so I've been keeping them fairly dry.

All of the pots have growth, except the Oregano seems to be a bit stunted. I'm not sure if it requires more water than the other ones or if it is just a slow bloomer. I've never actually grown something from the seed up (well except for bean sprouts in elementary school), so it's hard to measure my progress.

Week 10 - Year 1: Herbology Lessons

I'm no Neville Longbottom, but I hope Professor Sprout would give me decent marks on my latest experiment. I've added two herb containers to our garden with the help of my awesome aunt (who gave me the cute pots) and a marvelous co-worker (who found basil for me after my repeated failures to locate any).

Rosemarinus

Rosemary was the first herb added to our garden. We have already used it to great success in cooking a potato side dish. I planted the rosemary in a mix of peat poss and potting soil. It is only a week old, but it seems to be doing pretty well and was very tasty. My only question on this one is whether I should screw a hole into the bottom of the container. My research suggests that rosemary plants do require steady drainage, so I'm thinking we probably should add the hole to it, but this may be a bigger undertaking than I'm ready for - so we will risk it for now.

Basilicum

Our other newbie is a basil plant. I struggled to find basil every time I went out, but my awesome co-worker found some for me, so we are on our way with it. Like the rosemary, I planted it in a mix of peat moss and potting soil. Basil prefers to be pretty moist, so I'm not as worried about putting a hole in it.

The obvious and best usage for basil is PESTO - see the evidence above! Unfortunately, my basil plant is too young to produce this kind of awesomeness, but I spent a great morning making this pesto from scratch with some basil from my co-worker's garden. I can't wait to turn this into a creamy, decadent pesto pasta. Eventually, I will venture out and come up with some more uses for my basil, but right now I'm enjoying the pesto.

I've also learned that being an attorney can complicate gardening blogging, so my apologies for not posting over the past few weeks. I'll try to come up with some non-Harry Potter themes for the next post as well, but I can't help but find inspiration as I'm in the middle of re-reading the entire series.