'Tis the Season & Herb update

Yes, I know that officially Spring is still 6 days away. Unofficially, it's even farther than that, but I cannot help wanting to be out there, planning and preparing for the upcoming gardening season. You can see there is a lot of work to be done: That photo was taken at 7:45 a.m., before the sun came over the garage and everything was still frosty out there. You can see the piles of leaves I raked out from beside the deck yesterday. There is still lots more to clean up. This looks pretty bleak, I know, but there are teensy little tulip leaves poking out of the ground in front of the garden bench. You can't see them in the photo, but they're there...

This pile needs to be sorted and put away. It'll be a couple of months before I fill up the tipsy pots again, and I look forward to it.

These things will be employed to their fullest capacity, I'm sure. We could use another pair of hands - there are plenty of wheelbarrows... No, these kitty boys don't count. They'd just want to roll around in the leaves and chase birds.

They're excited about all the preparation that's happening, though. Think they read what's printed on this seed packet?

Herb update: Remember the little herb garden thing I got for Christmas? They were going along pretty nicely at first, but eventually the chives just shriveled up and I tossed them. A few weeks later the dill followed suit, even though it got little feathery fronds and I thought perhaps it might be saved.

That made me extra vigilant with the basil, and so far it's doing well. The package said I'd be harvesting it six weeks after planting, and that would have been about a month ago - you can see that hasn't happened. I have high hopes that these two plants will be the cornerstone of my basil crop for the summer, though. I'll continue to baby them inside until it's warm enough to introduce them to the great outdoors.

I just love fresh basil, don't you?

Herb Update

Remember a few weeks ago when I planted those little bags with herb seeds? Well, after 5 days of sitting on top of the heating pad, covered in a plastic bag, there were sprouts!

Now they seem to grow more by the hour and are almost to the point where I'll need to thin them out. I hate thinning, because it seems such a waste of a potential plant, but if I'm going to get nice herbs, they'll need room to grow.

Supposedly in another 3 1/2 weeks, I'll be able to harvest the basil. The chives will be ready by then, too, I think. Not sure about the dill - we'll see.

I found the crate at Goodwill the other day for 99 cents. Isn't it perfect?

Winter Gardening

I've been a pretty avid gardener for the past 10 years or so, mostly flowers and a few herbs. I love my fresh herbs all through the summer and fall. On Christmas Day, I had just mentioned to my sister-in-law how I was missing them, and the next gift I opened were these! Dill, chives, and my favorite, basil, each in its own "bag garden". Yea!
Today I finally had enough holiday stuff cleaned up and cleared off the counters that I could set them up. The instructions were pretty simple: cut open the bags, moisten the soil, sprinkle the seeds, cover with a plastic bag, and keep in a warm place. Each came with seeds, soil, and wood chips at the bottom of the bag for drainage.

Here is the dill, before covering the seeds with a little soil.

I set up a little "warm place" on a counter in the sunroom using the heating pad set on LOW, wrapped in a towel, with a plastic lid on top. This should work until the seeds germinate in 5-7 days.

In about six weeks I can use the first basil leaves. Oooh, I can't wait!