I’ve never been to the Minneapolis Farmers Market before so last Thursday after work, I finally decided to check it out. I ended up buying three herb plants -- curly parsley, chives, and catnip. (I have three cats, and one was diagnosed with depression so I thought catnip might cheer her up).I’m not really the gardening type, but I’ve decided to try growing an herb garden out on my patio in hopes of saving money because fresh herbs at the grocery store are expensive and don’t last very long! I swear, the chives I buy in those plastic packets for $2.99 get all discolored and slimy in less than a week! Plus, I am really trying to live a greener lifestyle and not buy food that has been sprayed with harmful pesticides.
Container gardening is all new to me so the jury may be out for a while on whether this is something that will actually save money or just be a waste of money in the long run. So far, I’ve spent $5.00 on the plants, $7.00 on a bag of Miracle-Gro® Organic Choice® Potting Mix from the Home Depot, $4.99 for gardening tools and gloves from Wal-Mart, and $13.97 for three stylish pots from TJ Maxx and the Goodwill for a grand total of $30.96.
If these plants survive until Thursday -- I think I may have overwatered the parsley because a few leaves have turned yellow -- I may buy a few more. I’m thinking of adding rosemary, basil, mint, cilantro, thyme, oregano and chamomile to my little patio garden. I may even get daring and try to grow some tomatoes!
Any other suggestions?
5 comments:
you can grow tomatoes, peppers, onions, and damn near any kind of veggie in a pot...try it..i have okra, squash, cataloup, onions, asparagus,and egg plant in pots...they're doing terrific..
you can grow tomatoes, peppers, onions, and damn near any kind of veggie in a pot...try it..i have okra, squash, cataloup, onions, asparagus,and egg plant in pots...they're doing terrific..
Yellowdog Granny: Give me your green thumb, please! I think two of my plants have already died!
Herbs are fairly easy, but here's two tips that might help.
1) Those herbs garden kits always promote how you can start harvesting as soon as you plant. This is not a good idea; let the plants grow for a couple of weeks before you start cutting off leaves. And if you want to extend theie life, once you see flowers starting to form, cut the buds off. The life cycle of an herb (or vegetable for that matter) is that after it fruits or blooms, the plant dies. Keeping it from blooming will slow that down.
2) Herbs don't need tons of water, some like to almost dry out in between waterings and some like even less. Rosemary, thyme, and oregano are some that will need less water.
Heidi, I'm sending you some {{{GREEN THUMB VIBES}}} through the Innernets (as Crazy Aunt Purl calls them, LOL)!
You GROW, girl :)
Post a Comment