Herbs are Growing!!!

The herbs are looking good! It took longer for the parsley (second from left) to sprout, but they've finally poked thier heads out! Only one sage plant has sprouted, but I still have a few sage plants from my last attempt at an herb garden. I think that it's getting close to being time to transplant or harden some of these - especially the cilantor (second from right) and basil (middle).

Herbs... again

Planted herbs on Sunday (April 3) and they've already sprouted! The sage is just barely poking its head out... but the basil and oregano are on their way!!!

We'll see how it goes this time... hopefully no frost!

Compostable Bottle Experiment

I was at the airport a couple of weekends ago and I had the opportunity to be 'eco' without thinking about it! I got a compostable water bottle. So... I put it in my compost on Sunday (April 2nd). I'm moving in July... so we'll see how this looks when I move! I'm curious!!

Herbs, Day 32

El Paso has been hit by uncharacteristically LOW temperatures... and I fear for my herbs. It got down to about 30 degrees INSIDE my apartment! This is a picture of the herbs that I took yesterday. As you can see - everything has finally sprouted, but the extreme cold seems to have caused the plants to start to fade a bit. My apartment is back up to a bearable temperature and I think it looks like the herbs are starting to bounce back a little. Before the "indoor frost" it looked like the sage (far left) was ready to be transplanted. I'm going to give it a little extra time to recooperate before I try to transplant it.

I'm a little concerned about the oregano and basil. The basil (in the middle) looks really bad, I don't think it will make it. The oregano (far right) looks bad. The stems aren't very strong and several of the plants are practically on thier side, not sure what to do. I guess I'll just keep nursing them to see if they'll rebound.

Herbs, Day 10

There has been more growth! The Sage (far left) and Basil (top middle) have also sprouted! The Oregano (far right) continues to grow!

Survivor Spinach

So, remember the spinach that drowned in the fall? I had given up all hope - but again, life will find a way. When I was outside today rolling my compost, I noticed that one little spinach guy had sprouted up again and he seems to be doing pretty well! I'll see how it goes. The water is still damp - so I'll have to keep an eye on it so I can water him when he needs it.

Herbs, Day 7

My oregano has sprouted! They are very tiny... but they are on thier way! Most of the other seeds take a minimum of 10 days to germinate, so we'll see how the other herbs do.

Life Will Find a Way...

Okay, so I've been a little lax about rotating my compost. It's been a couple of ... months. So I resolved myself to rotate my compost today. I have two compost buckets right now. The first one has a little leftover humus from this summer (on the right), the second is the compost I started this fall.

When I looked at the second bucket a little more closely, I realized there was something growing in the compost (in addition to some mold). When I pulled on the stem, I realized it was attached to a piece of potato!



The stem didn't look great - it was kind of a greenish-grey color, but I was impressed none-the-less. This potato managed to grow in a bucket with a lid on it and not much light getting in - and little in the way of water.

It reminded me of a quote from Jurassic Park - Life will find a way...

Herbs Day 1, Take 2

One of my New Years Resolutions is to grow and maintain an herb garden. So... here's the new herb garden... I have sage, parsley, basil, cilantro, and oregano...

Hopefully they sprout this time... and hopefully I don't kill them.

I'll keep you updated! Should germinate in 10-20 days.

Epic Fail.

Well... after about 3 weeks of watering.... nothing in the herb garden. Epic Fail might be a little too strong, but it was pretty much a complete and utter failure. A few weeks after I stopped watering the soil... one little sprig of parsley showed itself, but it honestly didn't seem worth the upkeep - for one sprout. And it was right before I went out of town....