Herb adventure

July 1, 2012 · 11 comments

in Life Stuff

I have never grown things, unless you count mold in the refrigerator. But I’ve been wanting to try herb gardening on my wee balcony, and today I finally took the plunge. After being completely overwhelmed at a local nursery, I headed over to Armstrong Garden Center (thanks for the rec, Greg!) where I found a woman willing to walk me through the basics. She helped me pick out herbs and pots, told me how to replant them, talked to me about drainage and fertilizer and pest control.

Here, in their repotted glory, are my new herbs:

My new herb garden

(I ran out of soil on the basil. Sorry, basil!)

The bad news is that the pots ended up being too tall for the cheap IKEA gardening shelf I’d acquired, so I will have to find shallower plants for that. I would also like to find an affordable way to raise these herb pots up three or four feet so they help block my view of the street. Suggestions welcome.

So, who wants to guess the plants? I think they’re all pretty obvious except maybe the one on the right.

{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Greg van Eekhout July 1, 2012 at 1:32 pm

Drainage, fertilizer, and pest control? Okay, you have just become my designated expert.

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2 Jenn Reese July 1, 2012 at 1:37 pm

I’m fairly certain I will over-water all of them and they’ll be dead within a month. You may want to reconsider.

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3 stina July 1, 2012 at 2:06 pm

cinder blocks and wooden planks are your friend. you can work them like leggos, and you can paint them. ;)

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4 Jenn Reese July 1, 2012 at 2:13 pm

You, my friend, are a genius! I haven’t used the ol’ cinder block-and-plank technique since college and had totally forgotten about it.

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5 Philip Brewer July 1, 2012 at 4:32 pm

The one on the far right would be catnip, I think.

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6 Jenn Reese July 1, 2012 at 4:38 pm

You are correct, sir! Couldn’t leave my little furry dudes out of the herb fun.

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7 Shelley July 1, 2012 at 6:39 pm

Catnip, rosemary, chives, basil, something and oregano?

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8 Jenn Reese July 1, 2012 at 7:01 pm

The “something” is dill, and the one on the far left is yerba buena — mint!

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9 Shelley July 2, 2012 at 12:36 pm

Ah, mint. I have started throwing fresh dill into my salads. Very tasty addition, especially with yogurt-based dressings.

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10 Jenn Reese July 2, 2012 at 2:21 pm

I love dill — I love eating it by itself sometimes, too.

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