My record with herbs is not very good. Most of them die after a short period of time. When I buy a pot of basil at the supermarket, I have to use it all within two days or it'll be dead. If I remember, I put the leaves I don't need into the freezer so I can still use them after a week. But as long as they stay on the plant, they're sure to die.
A while ago, I read a blog about herb gardens and they recommended against using plants from the supermarket. Those herbs have had a rough transport to get to the market. By the time they arrive there, they might still look good but they're so vulnerable already, that they have almost no chance of survival. The owner of the blog recommended growing herbs out of seeds or out of seedlings.
So that is what I did.
First of all, I took inventary of the herbs I already have. Almost all of them had died over winter but I was surprised to find out that my rosemary still had green leaves and my chives looked dead, but amongst the dead leaves I could see it grow back.
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| Look closely. They're still alive. It's a miracle. |
Rosemary is an amazing plant. I bought it almost a year ago and it hasn't died yet. It might turn into my favourite herb of all times, seeing how resistant it is to my inability to keep plants alive.
Next step was to clean out the pots and the suspension-thing I use for them. That looked like a grueling task but was done quite quickly.
When I proceeded to fill the pots with fresh soil, a task I had thought to be easy, I realised three things. First of all, 45 liters of soil are incredibly heavy. Second, the sun might have been out but it was still freezing cold outside. And third, I might have worked with the soil on my balcony but somehow, after I was done, it was all over my living room. Don't ask me how I did that.
I still had some seeds at home, from my last failure at growing herbs, so I decided on using them. I planted one pot of Thai Basil. The next pot, I filled with coriander. I always need it for cooking and using dried coriander just isn't the same thing.
I took a different pot for use inside to plant lemongrass. From the description of how to grow it, I can never put it outside because it won't be warm enough, even in summer. So I used a pretty pot and placed it on my kitchen table, where it'll hopefully grow huge and emit a nice smell.
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| I'll keep you upgraded on how this works out. |
In the end, I had two pots left. One, I'm going to fill with mint. From what I read on the blog, taking a cutting from an existing plant works well when it comes to mint. And since I often need fresh mint, that's what I'm going to do as soon as I get the chance. For now, I placed the pot outside with the other two to stabilise them when strong winds come up. Which happens quite often, considering I live next to the water.
That left me with one pot and the wish to grow a plant I had wanted to try for a long time. Garlic. I've read about how easy it is. Not sure if it's going to work out with me but I filled the remaining pot with soil, poured water on it and got three cloves of garlic. I was just about to plant them when I realised that maybe, I had overdone it with the water. The soil was swimming and since the pots have no holes, I have no choice but to wait for it to evaporate. It might take a couple of days. Until then, I keep the cloves of garlic next to the pot and wait.
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| Oops. Next time, I'm going to use less water. |
I'm keeping the Thai Basil and the coriander inside for now since it's still close to freezing at night. The cold temperatures might not be good for the herbs but it's needed for winter purslane, which I planted, too. I realise that the right time for planting is in autumn but I figured, if it's still cold at night, why not give it a shot? The worst that can happen is that it doesn't grow well, in which case I'll be sad for a day or two but I won't have lost anything.
After all was done and I had cleaned my whole flat from the soil that had gotten everywhere, I sat back on my couch with a smile on my face. I love watching things grow and even though I'm not very talented at it, I've always taken pleasure in growing plants. It was a very satisfying task.
Now let's see how I think about it in a couple of days.
