A Mint of Mint

Herbs (or, as Martha would say, "Herbs") are surprisingly easy to grow. Granted, some have proven a little more difficult - dill and rosemary in my case - but the majority of my herb garden is growing like weeds. Tasty weeds.

Dill apparently has a tough time being replanted and mine is no exception. I've basically given up and let it flower since there isn't enough dill on there for cooking. The mint on the other hand is out of control. It keeps growing and growing, invading the rest of the container. Alas, I have more recipes for dill than mint. Aside from any number of drinks: mint julep, mojitos, mint lemonade..., I haven't come up with mint recipes.

Rosemary is heartier and so fragrant. I think its biggest challenge this year is fighting for room with the basil - I swear as quickly as I pick basil leaves they grow back. Luckily, I like basil a lot and have countless ways to use it (however, none alcholic).

In addition to mint, rosemary, dill, and basil I'm also growing oregano, lavender, parsley, sage, and thyme (I feel a Simon & Garfunkel song coming on...)

Next year I'm going to try and grow Artemisia - good for fighting malaria.

Are these flowers on crack?

It was a bit tough in the beginning, I thought I'd lose a few at first (and we did, but it's too difficult to talk about) but once I understood the concept of "watering" we've been doing really well.

Container flowers need a lot more water than regular garden plants and in this heat (Summer School "Snow Day") I'm pouring about a gallon a day on each container box.

Seems to be paying off! Check out these before and after photos:

Verbena and Petunia - you can't see from this angle but they're growing over the other side of the box.











Geranium, flame thing (I forgot the name), and Sunflower which was later brutally mutilated by some sort of animal (very tragic) - replaced by Black-Eyed Susan.










Zinnias and this white flower (kinda reminds of sweet peas). Cutting the dead heads off the zinnias really does promote more blooms.

Lucky Shamrocks

My first foray into NOT killing a plant was shamrocks. Surprisingly my uncanny ability to neglect them for weeks on end paid off. They seemed to thrive on a lack of water - odd, considering that Ireland is a pretty wet place.

Alas, I never found a four-leaf clover, perhaps the cat ate them....