Herbing

I should be posting garden stuff, but the yard is so yuck I don't want to be out there much. Also, we seem to have another rush of ants, so that's a bit off putting. Still, the tomato plants seem to be taking off, and we're going to have a decent number of strawberries if I can remember to get some netting up to keep the birds away. I think the mild winter really helped them get established since they were planted in the fall, the strawberries that is, not the tomatoes, those are new.

I'm all about the herb gardening right now. I got several new plants to toss outside, and I think they're all doing well except the cilantro. Kind of shame that I managed to keep cilantro going all winter, but now that spring is here they are dying out. I've got few mint plants out front in the bed along side the house, bordered by concrete so that it doesn't take over the neighborhood. Looks like it's already starting to branch out and make itself at home, so that's happy. I've got another thyme plant, so that I don't fear so much when I harvest from the other plants, they've always been so tiny. I picked up a third chive plant, and some dill. Of course I've been chopping off chunks of parsley, rosemary, and oregano and chucking them over the fence because the plants are completely out of control.

Last time my mother in law was here, she wanted to grab some of the rosemary and try and grow it at her house, but it ended up left on the porch out back. I thought instead of chucking it over the fence I'd see if I could do anything with it. I've had 3 pieces of rosemary going for three weeks, but only one has started to root. I'm going to let it go another week before trying to plant it. The other two I've trimmed shorter and basically am starting over with them.

All the while I bought some basil at the supermarket for curry, but then managed to not make it until the basil was starting to turn. Since I already had the rosemary up there, I salvaged a few pieces of the basil and popped them in water on the windowsill too. After 2 weeks I have some nice roots, and I'm going to see if they will start to grow in pots. The basil has done so well that I'm keen to try some oregano too.

If these plants grow well in their pots then I may end up with some new rosemary and oregano plants to share with friends and family. That would be pretty cool, I think.