I had hoped to show up for this post about my herbs with a tactical plan. A post about how I'd learned to take better care of my herbs and how they're now thriving. But no. I come to you today to present you with why I bought the ones I did and show you how they're doing. And, once I've done that, I'm going to ask everyone who reads this post: Why does my basil look so bad and what can I do to stop that?
Because I feel I should have brought more to this post than I did, I tried to make up for it by embedding as many links to gorgeous pictures on Food Porn Daily as I could fit in this paragraph. I hope you click on and enjoy them. I bought all three of these herbs because I knew my housemate and I would use them. He uses mint in some fancy appetizer involving melba toast, fig spread and Halloumi cheese that he loves to impress people with. I plan on muddling the mint for mojitos (that one's from Pioneer Woman, I couldn't resist) and any other drink I can find that involves it. I use the rosemary in...well, gosh just about everything I can. But mostly for soups, stews, roasts and I love it in bread but I am not ready to bake some of my own yet (someday). I use the basil in my marinara sauce (correction: my mother's marinara sauce), on top of pizza, in salads and should I ever actually think to make caprese salad, I'd need a lot of it.
You may be asking yourself, why plant them when you can just get them at the store? Because they charge way too much and I don't use them frequently enough to use them up entirely. Sure, I can use a lot of basil in certain dishes, but in that case I feel I need to buy it the day of. And rosemary - it is ridiculous how much they charge for it in grocery stores. The stuff pretty much grows itself. I am not saying that I have never killed one, I'm just saying that it is difficult to do so... Mint, on the other hand, is something we rarely need, but when we've needed it in the past the stores were out of it. My housemate only got to pick one plant, and Mojito Mint was the one he picked.
Week 1: And away we go. Newly planted in a window box and looking so green and pretty.
Week 2: The weather had been warm and rainy and for that first week everything was great. But then, in this week, the weather chilled a bit and the winds came.
Week 3: I had to move the box to a more sheltered area where it could get sun without as much wind. By then it looks like the basil had already been hit pretty hard, but both the mint and rosemary were still thriving.
Week 4: I think the basil isn't going to make it...it's only a matter of time before it gives up the ghost. But at least the rosemary and mint are still doing well. Maybe next time I'll do the basil indoors? I checked these guys every couple days to make sure they had enough water (the rain took care of most of that) and, when they were getting dry, I watered and fed them (Miracle Gro Watering Can Singles). I did attempt to prune the basil, but that wasn't till Week 3 and it was already going downhill by then. Look how sad it is in Week 4!
I've learned a valuable lesson today about photographing plants for this site - taking the picture at the same time of day, on good weather days and from the same angle would have been nice. Sorry, guys.
And now, let me show you my very sad, lonely, little Thornless Blackberry. There's not much difference, but at least it's still alive. Has it grown or did I plant a dead stick with leaves? Anything is possible.
Because I feel I should have brought more to this post than I did, I tried to make up for it by embedding as many links to gorgeous pictures on Food Porn Daily as I could fit in this paragraph. I hope you click on and enjoy them. I bought all three of these herbs because I knew my housemate and I would use them. He uses mint in some fancy appetizer involving melba toast, fig spread and Halloumi cheese that he loves to impress people with. I plan on muddling the mint for mojitos (that one's from Pioneer Woman, I couldn't resist) and any other drink I can find that involves it. I use the rosemary in...well, gosh just about everything I can. But mostly for soups, stews, roasts and I love it in bread but I am not ready to bake some of my own yet (someday). I use the basil in my marinara sauce (correction: my mother's marinara sauce), on top of pizza, in salads and should I ever actually think to make caprese salad, I'd need a lot of it.
You may be asking yourself, why plant them when you can just get them at the store? Because they charge way too much and I don't use them frequently enough to use them up entirely. Sure, I can use a lot of basil in certain dishes, but in that case I feel I need to buy it the day of. And rosemary - it is ridiculous how much they charge for it in grocery stores. The stuff pretty much grows itself. I am not saying that I have never killed one, I'm just saying that it is difficult to do so... Mint, on the other hand, is something we rarely need, but when we've needed it in the past the stores were out of it. My housemate only got to pick one plant, and Mojito Mint was the one he picked.
Week 1: And away we go. Newly planted in a window box and looking so green and pretty.
Week 2: The weather had been warm and rainy and for that first week everything was great. But then, in this week, the weather chilled a bit and the winds came.
Week 3: I had to move the box to a more sheltered area where it could get sun without as much wind. By then it looks like the basil had already been hit pretty hard, but both the mint and rosemary were still thriving.
Week 4: I think the basil isn't going to make it...it's only a matter of time before it gives up the ghost. But at least the rosemary and mint are still doing well. Maybe next time I'll do the basil indoors? I checked these guys every couple days to make sure they had enough water (the rain took care of most of that) and, when they were getting dry, I watered and fed them (Miracle Gro Watering Can Singles). I did attempt to prune the basil, but that wasn't till Week 3 and it was already going downhill by then. Look how sad it is in Week 4!
And now, let me show you my very sad, lonely, little Thornless Blackberry. There's not much difference, but at least it's still alive. Has it grown or did I plant a dead stick with leaves? Anything is possible.
I can't wait to see how this goes. I will be planting my herbs here in a few, but I do have three pretty little strawberry plants that I was given as a gift. Oh please, please, please don't let me kill them. For now, my time is spent trying to figure out how to keep the gang of cats out. They seem to think my back yard is the most relaxing in the neighborhood. I swear I have 4 cats out there right now and not one of them is actually mine.
ReplyDeleteI really want to get some strawberry plants for the big ol' planter a friend just gave me...maybe I'll do some research first and post it here for all of us, though. Kitty pictures from you in our future?
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