Seeds of Destruction

Hmm ....

2007-04-03T15:10:00.000+01:00

Well, it seems that things didn't go so well here.

Tip one, plants need water to live - I'll do well to remember that!

Tip two, it seems that herbs are quite keen to grow so don't over-sew (too many plants in the pot and unfair competition led to some scraggy plants, led to a lack of interest, led to no watering - see tip one)

So the pots on the windowsill didn't quite work out and I never quite became self-sufficient in herbs!

Nevertheless this still may be a reasonable idea so I'll keep it up (if only to avoid being in the club of 5 post blogs!) Who knows - we may have a bit more space in Australia for pots and plants and what have you.

Another thing is to keep a record here of what it said in the paper this weekend with regards to growing vegatables in small plots. So, stolen from Carol Klein:
1) Put tall crops - climbing beans, broccoli, etc - on the north side of other crops
2) Fill any gaps with herbs, and companion plants (eg French marigold discourages pests and encourages pollinating insects)
3) Intensive planting can help conserve water as there's less bare earth from which water can evaporate.

The article suggests as follows:
Carrots, potatoes, salad, courgettes, beans and tomatoes.

There's growing tips but I will leave it at this for now.

Wait ...... What's That?

2006-04-14T20:57:00.000+01:00

The first signs of life have appeared. The first seedlings to emerge were in fact the thyme which I wasn't that fussed about! That was on Monday, and since then the coriander has also come up fairly well, both in the little pots and in the larger pot in the bedroom. The coriander first showed some signs on Wednesday and seem to be steadily growing. As today has worn on there are also signs of the other seeds making some moves.

In the background of the lower picture there are some very small oregano sprouts, and a little later there was also some parsley. In the smaller pots there is a small basil seedling.

So it seems that my little herbs are keeping up with the tree outside which is really getting into the mood of Spring and is covered in buds.

Some Thoughts

2006-04-09T20:51:00.000+01:00

So, here's the journal aspect of this thing. A little bit of history might not go amiss here, while my memory still holds up. I've never really grown much, but over the past few years I have fancied doing some growing. Funnily enough I can remember as a kid wondering how old you have to be before you start wanting to do gardening! In Japan I tried to grow a few things on the balcony but not being able to water the plants at the right time and the fact that they were 100 yen seeds, in 100 yen compost, in 100 yen pots meant that they struggled somewhat in the Kyushu sunshine. I did, however, have a lot more success with the avocado stones that grew in jam jars on the kitchen windowsill.

I've started with herbs this time round, partly because they're supposed to be quite hardy, partly because they grow well enough inside and partly because I can use them if they go well (take that Sainsburys! :) As for what else I would like to grow, I'm not sure. I like the idea of growing things that you can use. Not necessarily a 'Good Life'-esque vegetable patch but some herbs, vegetables, and I was impressed when mam and dad managed to drink gin with their own lemons! It doesn't have to be all practical, however. My only problem is that I am not that fussed on any particular flowers at the moment. I have always had a soft spot for snapdragons but they're not really inspiring I don't think. I quite like chamilias, and a few other flowers that I don't know the name of. I like things that are a bit sturdier, or at least look like it, although I have been impressed by mam's orchids when they've done well. We have some bamboo growing in the bathroom which looks good. I keep hanging my nose over olive trees too. The fact that it's the tree of Athene doesn't do it any harm either!

I still don't know anything about gardening! I'm trying to find a few things out, but it seems that books aimed at absolute beginners are a little rare. I like the idea of growing things from a cutting and I'm not entirely sure why ... I got a book about herb gardening for Chrimbo which seems to have some ideas in it such as "pricking out". On the whole I think it's the idea of growing something which I like. Not quite the whole 'creation' or 'power over life' trips but as I am not tremendously creative it's cool to be able to make something (although I shall have to see how things go!)

That'll do for now I think.
Seeds update: I have watered them once since planting them. No signs yet :)

Will They Grow?

2006-04-02T14:16:00.000+01:00

Right, here we are. A new blog. More than anything this will be a chance for me to keep up with what I did, how I did it and what have you. On the off chance that people wander across here it will probably be very dull ..... ah well.

This afternoon I finally got round to planting some herbs for the windowsill. The ones that I got for Chrimbo looked like they might be a bit old so I went to the place off Whiteladies Road and picked up some fresher ones, some compost and a tray. I chose oregano (Origanum vulgare), plain leaved parsley (Petroselinum neapolitanum), cilantro coriander (Coriandrum sativum) and sweet genovese basil (Ocimum basilicum).

The reason being that these are the herbs we use most often when cooking.

I also planted the seeds I got for Chrimbo in some little pots that I had managed to track down after that little disaster! Those herbs are the same but there's also some thyme (Thymus - there seems to be hundreds of variations, I'm not sure which one this is).

Here are some pics;

So these are the new seeds in their tray. It seems the photo hasn't come out too well so from left to right they're parsley, basil, oregano (no label), and coriander. They have now moved and are living on the bedroom windowsill.

Here are the little pots - the picture's a little better but since I stole most of the labels for the tray seeds I should probably make a note here too. The two little ones are thyme, and parsley. The larger one on the left is coriander and the one on the right is basil. These are living on the coffee table in the living room next to the tulips, but will hopefully be a little more successful!