Year of the Insect

 

Good news! Theodore, the caterpillar, has moved on already! From stage one, he now enters stage TWO! I can't believe my little guy is so grown up. His brothers are still smaller, and haven't yet moved on, but as you can see, our friend just changed. His stage one skins are still on the parsley beside him. Still, before moving on to the updating of the Genoa garden, I thought I would enjoy some delicious orange chicken and tell you all about Theodore's progress!

 He's been doing really well clearly. Getting all gigantic and learning to eat as much food as caterpillarly possible. Its just that there are three of them, and I am increasingly concerned that my single little parsley plant won't be enough to feed all these growing babies. Oh well, I will continue to monitor him! Maybe tomorrow I'll use a a ruler to see just what size he's measuring now, but since he's the biggest and never stops eating we decided he was only fitting to be named Theodore.

NOW! Moving on to the Genoa garden. I told you it was colorful, but its pretty awesome. Be prepared to be wowed with, purple speedwell, geraniums, and tall stocky sunflowers. Soooooo exciting! The idea, is that tomorrow I will clean up the front of little, if the mosquitoes are too active, and that means that there will be a front to work with again. It was so hot over the last few weeks that I could barely take the kids out for longer than a half an hour. Here's hoping the tempt stays settled below 90.

One of the six replanted Dill. They planted themselves this year without any help of mine. So cool. And the only yellow that has yet to rear its head in our garden. Jonathan and Sarah love the dill plants, because they attract butterflies. Which, considering the above, I'm getting quite the laugh out of. We never anticipated so many butterflies this year, but it turns out we planted all the right things. Anything in the parsley family.

 And then there are the silver mound bushes. Another perennial that flourished this year, in a way no one ever expected. These are Mik's favorites, and I have to say, I agree wholeheartedly that they were a great choice for our happy little spot in the backyard. So soft.

 These are the speedwell of course. And the reasoning behind the year of the insect? Check out the plant on the right.... Yet another caterpillar. Or an inch worm. I can't quite tell.

 GERANIUMS!

 Put them all together and what do you get?! Our beautiful garden.

The Elephant in the Room

Another good day today! Just another documentation of how big the sunflowers are getting. Mr. Bean is only just 4 years old, and it is now over his head. I can't wait until it gets bigger. This of course is the largest of the sunflowers and the others are rising slowly now that I've been watering for almost a half hour straight each day. It appears to be helping! There's some real progress in the garden, despite thinking they were getting a bit tired, they weren't! The sunnies are growing, the elephant ear emerged, and the marigolds are starting to make a whole new round of flowers now that they are coming back from the desert weekend. So exciting! With high hopes I say these just may make the summer!

Busy with the Buggies

Sooo I failed. I thought that the uggy buggies had only taken over a few of the plants. Well upon getting them off those plants they returned... from the other plants. So NOW! I'm going to eave them out of doors. Well the first bunch I am going to leave out of doors. I have 4 outside now. The Lavender, the second boxwood basil, the mint, and the sweet basil. They are going to be getting the 'cold shoulder' of bug techniques. First they go outside, then! I spray them with chilly water every few hours and sprinkle it all over them until the bugs decide its the worst place EVER to live.

THEN! I move them indoors after washing down the plant area and take the next batch outdoors. I've decided the soap thing is evil because it killed most my plants. Well it ate away at the leaves and its sort of miffing me off so that tech is gone. But this way I'm hoping that I'll get everything all cleaned up and such. Anyway I hope that my wonderful neighbors don't think of this as an opportunity to put their cigarettes out in them. They seem decent enough people. Anyway. Here's hoping.

Poor jail babies!

Home Coming...

Ah its wonderful to be home. Yes its been a few days and all, but that certainly doesn't stop me from taking forever to get back to everyone! I am and forever will be! a slow poke.

Anyway! Upon return from FL, I was shocked to find that m plants had grown magnificently! You have to understand, while I was away I requested for the mother hen to tend the babies and please water them according to schedule. I also requested regular updates, which I did not receive, so I was thinking I would be coming home to a ruined wilted garden! But instead, I came home to this beauteous sight!

And then I went to Nicky's house for memorial day and what did I see but these amazing awesome presents! She gave these to me! Because mine are just so wimpy here at home. She gave me a pot of these things called... coleus! She made them from her very own homegrown seeds from last year and says she wants me to have them for the garden at Chris and Kel's! They look painted! Isn't that awesome!?!?!


Also did a bit of research upon coming home to find that my aloe plant needed mass trimming! Apparently once the leaves drop as low as they had its a strain on the plant, so I now have a cleanly trimmed aloe plant that is nice and gooey.


Oh its been so amazing guys! And to let you go, I have a photo op of my basil plant that is now so big that the leaves are as big as the one at the store! LOOK!







EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

Replanted my lavenders too in nice new pots. Pictures to come!

Who Needs a Stork!?

So I don't know about you people, but I don't! I have a garden Snail!!! Who needs a stork when you have a snail? Its awesome. Mom bought it for me, along with a bunch of garden stuff for my faux garden. She said if I was going to have a garden it needs hanging things and spikes and stones and there's no reason why I shouldn't have them! So she took me first to Lowe's (never been to one before), to pick a nice blackwood mulch. Very nice stuff if I do say so myself! While there, she got me a beautiful boxwood basil plant. Let me tell you it smells AMAZING! Definately going to be aiding the candle making business. ^^ Then we went to Walmart to check their prices and procured some weed and feed so that the gnarly death plants won't regrow. AND THEN! we went to Menards to check the prices of hyacinths. This is also where we got Ant killer, because there's a large amount of them in the garden and well, we all know I don't like to be crawled on. In between all THAT! We went to the dollar store and got these amazing little garden sparklies which I can't WAIT to show off. I promise pictures of the middle process will be taken tomorrow. Before is before we tackled it, middle is cleaned but no flowers, and after is once all the plants come up!

I'm going to be working on the garden tomorrow morning, well more like noon, BUT gonna put in the stone works, sparklies, and ornaments. Also going to use the weed and feed, mulch and then plant the babies! Very exciting work for tomorrow. I can't wait. Just telling you now. I'm in a great mood.

Sorting

Alright so a few days ago my honey badger/sunflower bunny/MIK, came home. It was great to have him here and show off my little seedies to him. Of course he thinks that its silly no doubt, or my obsession with them is. I think I told him at least ten times how excited I was that, get this, THE CUMIN HAS SPROuTED!!!! Soooo exciting. That's right, two little cumin sprouts.

Now, now some of you might not know just what a cumin plant is good for an apothecary. Wellll, I don't know either! HAhaha, so I'm going to use this time to tell you.

Alright, so first off, apparently as a tea it aids with acute stomach pain. More tea making ^^ And of course this time I get to find out what flavors go with the taste. According to my sources, its a spicy little seed, so making a tea from it should be a new experience. It can help with flatulence, indigestion, diarrhea, nausea, morning sickness, and atonic dyspepsia, AND great for tumors in small animals. If I'd known that I would definitely have been growing cumin before when my aunt's bunny rabbit 'Bean' got sick.

Ooooo! I just found some hugely good news for my sunflower bunny, Mikki. According to several sites, cumin is good for the kidneys and livers. Now this might not seem so oddly amazing but you have to take into consideration, the HSP. Lately the henoch schonlein purpura has been tearing apart his kidneys lately. There has been a large about bleeding there and I think that perhaps if I could get him to try some cumin tea that perhaps it might just help him a little bit. Now the trick is getting Mikki to try it because well, to put it plainly the man does not like tea, nor does he like homeopathic remedies, but I think if I give him this expression, O_O He might just do it so that I'll stop giving him creepy stares.

Also it helps with lung pains, and that's something I REALLY need. I've been using an inhaler and steroids to open up my lungs for years. Anything I can try to help makes me a happy girl. Hopefully I just make the tea tolerate.

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Oh and also for the record. I went to the storage last night and retrieved some pots. his morning I checked to make sure that I had all my soil and such. I'm going to wait until Saturday before potting though because I would like the seedlings to raise up a bit higher. They are still a bit short.

Tomorrow! I am taking my pouch of things to Chris and Kelly's house so that whilst the little one's are asleep i can pull that persistent plant from the ground and pack all the leaves away into a bag. In my pouch, is going: pruning scissors, garden gloves, hand trowel, hand hoe, garbage bag, and bulbs! I don't know if tomorrow I'll get far enough into the cleaning process to plant yet, BUT I want to be prepared.

For those of you who don't understand why this means so much to me. In all honesty its a lot more about finally being able to give something to Chris and Kelly after all the things they have done for me. After the two years I have spent working for them, they have taken such good care me as a person. Paying my doctor's bill when I got sick, and just the way they treat me. They are good people. I want to give them a beautiful garden.

New Seeds, again!

Yerp, that's right! So I came home from my fella's house the other day so pumped about the oncoming spring that I took Emma to Farm and Fleet for some seed spotting. We came home with 5 new seeds! And of course I was feeling a bit on the loving side because of all this romance in the air and wanted to instead of buying herbs, bought some wonderful new flowers! Violas! lovely little purple things, and they were perfect because of their height. A new brand of sunflower with supposedly 12 inch flowers on 16 inch stems. Very excited. English Daisies, which I think I'm going to start with this year at the same time as basil. Lamb's ear, this fuzzy cute plant that I thought would make momma happy. AND finally this really neat flower called a poor man's weather glass. The flowers close every time its about to rain. ^^

Just so happy.

Roses

Well I don't usually just yammer so I won't do it for long, but I was attempting to make myself feel better because of this whole sports thing that everyone seems to be really bent out of shape about. SO! I just finished changing the pictures on the walls and such to Valentine's theme. I like them, but since I didn't grow them when I was at Target the other day I purchased this little bitty rose pot that comes as a kit. I'm rather excited because it means I get to grow something without peeving off my mom. Its suppose to be a white little flower, hopefully it works out. I'm going to read over the instructions as soon as I'm done here.

But on the note of roses. I got a gift of some rosemary from a close friend. Dried of course, but I had never gotten a close look at it and well I must say, it smells like pine! Its so neat. Anyway with the rosemary I decided it would be a great idea to make some rosemary tea! So I added that to my tea box the other day. Very exciting. I can't wait to try it!

Anyway I feel much better now and I hope you all enjoy what's left of your Sunday. ^.^

Shopping!

Oh how I love Farm and Fleet. Its like this wondrous little place that carries everything that would ever make me happy. Yes I know sounds weird to be swooned by a warehouse department store, but they are the only people I know who carry the new year's seeds. So with that lead, I'm sure we all understand what I am about to start chattering about. SEEDS! I mean 40% off on sale! It was great. And a 50% off on the seed pod trays. Extremely exciting. SO! This year's seeds, or at least this rounds seeds:



Top Row, Left to Right: Lemon Basil, Cinnamon Basil, Sweet Basil, Spicy Globe Basil, Curly Parsley

Bottom Row, Left to Right: Herbal Strawberry, Bellflowers, and Bunny Tails!!!

I mean how cute is that? Now I've been told I have to wait until Easter before planting, at least that's what mom claims, but you can bet I won't be waiting that long. I have pots outside the boxes in storage and such. I think she's more worried though. See our cousin just moved and she now has a yard and porch... On that note of this new year of planting coming along she is talking about moving again for us. She wants a porch too, and a yard for my herbing. Hahaha. Well that sounds great and all but it won't stop me from starting basil plant one as soon as this Christmas Tree goes away.

Don't get me wrong I'd love to move, but it doesn't mean I'll wait for it to happen before returning to my green thumbed ways.

Welcome to the Family!!!

That's right, the Aloe Vera has come home to live with me! We have named him Doug. And he's a perfectly lovely little plant with five tentacles and a brand new little bud. Though it is considered winter and the herb manual says that during he winter all I'm suppose to do is once a week squirt the spines with water. It ha some character to it this plant, with a growth on the biggest of them from being placed in extreme sunlight. Or at least that's what was being said about it. I'm not too certain that Illinois gets extreme sunlight, but he'll enjoy it here I hope. I cleaned off the little spines when I got it home and measured the longest one to monitor it's progress. 10 inches from base to end of the longest tip. Very cool. Lets hope I don't kill it right off the bat.

Season Two!

Well since the season is coming to a close I thought that perhaps I should speculate on what next year looks like in the way of this one's garden. I finished packing away all my nice pots for the winter. I'm sure I'll be digging them out at the start of April once seedlings have again been brought forth from the dirt, but for now, the cold has taken the better of them. I did however leave out two pots to experiment with. A plastic one, hoping that it would be less cold that a ceramic pot. And the very first pot I ever bought. The little blue one.

I am of course waiting to begin until 2011, but that doesn't leave January devoid of planting! Its like a fun game to play with yourself. Weighing the pros and cons of what plants to attempt growing in January. I'll letting the basil have its resting period, since we just finished playing with that, but I do in fact want to have an enormous herb garden someday and I want to say I've at least attempted to grow things other than basil. Even though we are all fairly aware by now that its my favorite since I am yet to kill one off accidentally.

Anyway I fished out my box of seeds to discover these have yet to be successfully attempted: Savory, Italian Parsley, and Cumin. Now that we know this however, we check heights and sun exposure times in the wonder book, also known as, The Complete Herb Book by Jekka McVicar.

By the way, quick fact! Did you know Parsley was used to decorate the dead's tombs? WEIRD! But anyhow, it only gets to 10" about which is good and definitely doesn't like being transplanted, so into the tiny pot that would go, with a towel wrapped about it to keep warm and in my sill. Perks!: Chewing it raw promotes healthy skin, fresh breath, and eaten cooked can promote suitable treatments for UTIs. Very nasty those things. OOOOO And I could make hair rinse from it. Sounds great! We shall attempt that one. I am excited for all its uses.

On to the Cumin. Shocked as I am to find that cumin isn't in the book, it looks interesting. My packet says its up to 12" Tall, and is suppose to harvest after the seeds turn brown... hmm... not very helpful. Lets check the net shall we? Oooo looks like its great for boiling into a tea to make a stomach pain reducer, and OH! The horror! Requires long hot summers to grow. Well I guess that means no cumin for the January season.

Hmmm how about that Savory?

Oh my... well it gets 12" tall and is world renown as an aphrodisiac? Oh dear. Apparently the stuff was suppose to be the stuff of myths. These half goat people would stand in a field of the stuff and called it 'the herb of happiness.' Well... I hope there are other uses because I don't need any of that stuff getting involved in my garden. BUT! I wonder if Mik knows that because he claims to know all in Greek and roman myths. I should ask him, bwahahaha...

Oh my! Such a good thing, I found some more uses, good for asthma! Yay for me. I should try that. I think savory is our winner, and not only be default either. Oh goodie, and it makes great tea. awesome.

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Alrighty then all we have decided on the plants to attempt. Now because its winter, and because these seeds say use in 2010, I will attempt to grow them three times. If no sprouts come then I say its one of the tow things or both, and we'll try again with new seeds in spring. Very, very exciting. I can't wait. Especially since savory looks like pine needles. Fun.

For now though, I say adieu and good day to you all.
Justine

Christmas smells great!!

You know what I realized? Pine is an amazing smell. I mean I just got home from Florida and let me tell you something, I love that warm weather, but something about walking through the pine tree section at Menard's just makes my heart flutter. Its all the right time of year for pine trees and know what? All the more right time for Basil! Yes I know its been ages, but well to be perfectly honest, it doesn't matter. All my plants have passed on by now, I had to allow them to take their last breathes before leaving on vacation, but that didn't stop me from drying the final plants and guess what this happy camper got to bring home with her for Christmas?

A MORTAR and PESTLE!

That's right! My dad bought me that gorgeous little stone there that says very sweetly, 'Bless this Garden.' I was very wobbly eyed when I received it because as we all know this little hobby of mine really matters to me and it makes my heart light up to see that others notice that as well. The mortar and pestle were a gift from my grandma Judy. Who let me get it while we discovered a quaint little cooking store at the mall in Bradenton. Its small and perfectly fits in my hands. And that's right you know what I made with it? I made Christmas presents!

Sure I can't buy things since we all know that aside from being rather frugal I am also about to lose my job and can't really afford gifts, but! I can make gifts. I took that little pestle and ground up that basil and mixed it with my mom's favorite generic tea blend and repackaged it for gifting to whomever it fits best. As we are playing secret santa this year I have to be careful who I gift to because I don't want to seem unfair. I think my person will enjoy them though... I hope. Speaking of gifts though!

I am sending Dad the basil oil. I made it and now it has someone who will appreciate it. He was very excited when I mentioned it because he likes to cook. One of the best cooks I've known actually, so I am gifting him a bottle. Bottle two went to friend Josh, as he now eats only organic foods and thought it was super cool. At least I hope he thought so... Bottle three is going to my sister. We all knew that was coming though right? The culinary queen should certainly have a bottle. So that covers that.

Now as for this tea, I'm hoping that I did it right, but I'm pretty certain that I did. I first, slowly took apart a tea bag and emptied it's contents. Afterward I used a teaspoon scooper to figure out how much was in there and replaced it 2/3 with basil and 1/3 with the original blend, so its still tea like of course. The next kind of basil I grow (hopefully a bigger variety), I'll try mixing with chamomile and that might give it a nice blend. All I know is it smells amazing!

That's it for now on the gardening end of things,
I'll update you all later with the outcome!

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The Gardening Bunny.

Hello Oxygen!

For those of you who don't know, I have been battling with a rather nasty chest virus lately and this afternoon I finally met with my old and dearest friend OXYGEN! The family and I, after our glorious soccer game, traveled to Starved Rock State Park, it was extremely amazing to have all that oxygen provided by all our wonderful trees. Very nice to finally be able to breath like a normal person again.

Anyway, on to the big news!!! The Dwarf Incredibles... have blossomed!! That's right after leaving them in window to soak up as much sun as possible after the sun decided to start rising too early to get them out for their normal doses. It was great! It is great! Look at the little petals and its first tiny stamen things are extruding pollen. Its greatness!!! They are beautiful. Now you should also know that I am going on vacation starting Monday afternoon (can't miss Sunday night football), and heading to my brother's house for the week. I do enjoy those visits, but sadly it means that while I am gone I must leave the glorious garden in the care of Emma and her mother. They are good gardeners, I get my own slightly greenish tinted thumb from her, but she also doesn't have much time in the morning to be taking them out all the time. Hopefully the sunflowers continue to release their little stamen things and get even bigger. So far there is 2 blooms, hopefully with will get the last third one.

Also, the lack of sun has claimed another life, the savory is has passed on as well as the nasturtiums. They just couldn't be coaxed into surviving, but there is one more of the nasturtium plants left and its quite healthy. We'll try new savory after Christmas is over. Mom says anything that dies before Christmas can't be replaced because the table I've been using for the garden is the table we use for the tree. Our apartment being so tiny and everything. Anyway, time to baby my babies and prepare them for the night, wash the sill so they can go back out there and then wash there indoor trays so they are ready for their mommy's vacation.

The Mystery Plant!!!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, we have a mystery plant. Whilst weeding this morning I discovered in my sprout box, a plant which I haven't the faintest idea what it is! Personally it could be anything, but I've planted so many kinds of seeds in the sprout box that it be one of oh so many things that finally decided to sprout. At first I was under the impression the fairly large sprout might be a coreopsis, or perhaps a daisy of some kind since those two types of plants had been planted first in this sprout box. But then I checked the other labels on the box, discovering (that firstly, my organizational skills leave something to be desired), but that it could also possibly be a pansy, a shasta daisy, or even a Livingston daisy. I mean there are far too many possibilities. This also leads me to believe that if this single plant, all on its own managed out of the rubble left over dirt in my now empty sprout box, that it was MEANT for me to find it! I am meant to nurture this partially squid like plant and discover its true origin. Anyone with information on this plants DNA donors is more than welcome to let me know, here is its baby picture!

Buds of joy!!!

First of all lets all give a big round of applause, the plants did indeed make it to the window yesterday despite me forgetting them on the counter. Secondly, today is simply an update on my plants which have me in a fantastic mood this fine and amorous morning. The shortest of the Dwarf Incredible Sunflowers has officially made its very first bud! At 8 inches tall this sunflower is the most stocky and sturdy I have ever produced. It doesn't even need support! But its enjoying a wonderful tiny bud atop its mound of leaves, resembling what I think is a palm tree. Kind of hilarious looking but all the more amazing.

As for my other plants! I have found that the first pot of savory I planted is coming in nice and strong, 5 in one pot, which means I'll be thinning them over the next week, and the second pot of savory is still yet to come in. I am a bit concerned about that pot because I placed only two seeds in it and for the most part I always over sow my seeds, but wind up with tons of plants, so this time around I attempted just two of them. Hopefully the sun brings them out of their dirt this afternoon. The cress I planted almost two weeks ago is finally coming back from being thinned and now has four leaves on each which to me is impressive because I was under the impression that they were a bit like chives and needed to be planted with tons in a tiny space, but it doesn't appear that way on the seed package. Anyway both pots are doing fairly well now and I'll wait another week before thinning them again like the book indicates.

My basil plants, two of the three, have managed to do quite well so far, but the third one is looking as though it might not make it. I'm hoping it manages because we've had this issue before and well... they came out looking like the best plants that there were, so this time around we are hoping for a little bit of a pick me up, slowly but surely. I'm still not sure on the nasturtiums, but I never really liked that plant to begin with so I'm not too interested in what its about to do or not do for that matter, its too wily for my sill and makes a habit of wrapping around whatever poor little plant happens to be in its way. Oh well.

In regards to the Baby Blue Eyes... may they rest in peace. They started out quite promising, but it seems a forced year round garden doesn't always work out for some plants. They had their attempt, it was good to see the sprouts before the end of their time. Alls fair in gardening though, I hope that the next set of plants potted will have a better run. But have no fear, these buds of glory will pick up where you guys couldn't make it... all the best wishes in my compost heap.

The Day of Labor

A day to be celebrated, I'm sure, so I will be doing so at work. Yes, that's right, I'm updating from work. Though I am rather disappointed in myself for having forgotten to take my plants out to their window sill this morning and am now in a desperate frenzy to contact the celebrating masses to please move them so that they might get all the sunlight they deserve. There should be some kind of punishment for people who forget to move their plants, like if they can't have food, neither can I! Hopefully though this won't be a rule until later because I am one hungry bunny. I wish I knew a proper herb I could use to reduce hunger cravings, but sadly no, I do not, so we'll have to continue the onward struggle to grow great smelling plants without eating constantly.

Anyway, since I'm at work this morning I thought it would be nice to instead of updating on my poor sun deprived plants, instead show you all something fancy that I did with my house dwellers the other day. This goes to prove that you don't have to have living plants to make fancy arrangements.


All you need for this little number is!: A fancy pants wine glass, or in this case something from the dollar store will do quite nicely, and two dried sunflowers. That's it! Now in this case they are teddy-bear sunflowers grown from the beginning of April until late last month. They were a lovely little addition to my garden and I was sad to see them depart their vibrant yellows and puffy bumble bee like fluff, but in this case, they are beautiful even in death. The sunflowers are averaged to grow to only 24 inches, but anyone who has seen my apartment knows that that is too big, but luckily! They only grew to approx. 8 to 12, with very nice twin blooms on both sides. I had two pots of them, and one of the pots followed the seed packets averages perfectly, twin blooms and mature length, but the other had some kind of strange mutation. It was growing blooms directly from the stem and there were at least four at a time just off the stem never even branching out at all. Anyway, they certainly were beautiful. After I dried them though, they certainly made some interesting photographs and has made me proud to say that these flowers did their duty by me to make me smile even after departing from my window sill.

A Little Something New

Alright everyone. I suppose that its time that I did something different than sitting around and trying to make things change by simply complaining about them, so I've decided that first I am starting here. This first step is one in the right direction. Its not healthy to try being something you aren't and its certainly not the way to go about things by saying absolutely nothing at all, so! I'm here to take a healthy step in the right direction. Yeah my life is hectic, but who's insist in their own way, so why dwell on that when you can use those experiences that attack you like a fierce lion to move on and grow stronger. Better yet, just find your happy place and let that help you towards moving to better places. So I am going to make this my happy place numero uno!

My unconventional garden. Sure I'm living in a tiny little apartment, but that isn't stopping me from the one that thing that keeps my sanity from the evil clutches of what I will now simply call, WEEDS! I mean my garden is indoors, so its hard for there to be weeds except for those people that live outside my tiny little four walled bedroom and attempt to drain my nutrients.

I'm not that green thumbed, in fact, its more like a pasty white since I never see daylight, but its getting there as I slowly get further with my plants. All my friends, they have their own individual names, and for a little anonymity, they are referred to as different kinds of bunny rabbits. But! of course the one that matters most in my life, is my sunflower! He's someone special and amazing, despite my random obsessions he still supports me in everything that I do. So to him a salute *SALUTES* and I dedicate my love. All of that of course which is not going into my tiny little apartment garden.

But now onto the most important part. The garden!! The thing that makes me happy here. Its a small garden right now, consisting primarily of several pots of rather lush looking basil, newly planted savory, and a few flowers such as 6 dwarf incredible sunflowers, and dwarf nasturtiums. Yeah, you guessed it, I'm an herb gardener. Or at very least its something I enjoy doing. Herbs smell good, simple as that. There is nothing better than a good smell: basil, thyme, or something even more simple, the smell of a good cologne. Which by the way I am still to remember just what my sunflower's favorite happens to be. He seems to like the smell of basil, or at least I think he does, but I am really excited about getting a chance to smell those wonderful things I've heard about from my herb book.

I'm also interested in the medicinal properties of my herbs too. I've heard great things and can't wait to try them out myself. Tonight I hung the last of my first season of growing basil. They were a bountiful crop and I hung them just as it says, in a dark cool place in order to keep the flavor in. I've been looking for several different things to do with them. I've kept dried leaves in an air tight container and they are perfect! I've used them in sauces and its truly liberating to use something I grew in the food that I am cooking. Makes you feel much more at ease when you don't need to ask for other people's help, but of course the fact that I like people for the most part keeps me from actually limiting my contact with others, but as far as the food and planting goes, this is my kingdom!
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Anyway, this is the reason I'm doing this, its a very nice and relaxing passion of mine and obviously I can chatter about it for a while. But step one is to begin and I am very ready. Thanks for those that have kept up and thanks even more to those that might be watching because I love the input and even more I like the idea that I've made someone else think better.

The Baggy Bunny,
The Unconventional Gardener