Wednesday, September 19, 2012

I Grow Herbs - the Legal Kind


Gardening has never been my strong point. Despite multiple horticulture classes and labs at Texas A&M, I never quite got the knack of how to take care of everything and make it look good. I've also never had anything but a patio to put my plants on, so I'm limited to containers.

That being said, I've kept a selection of herbs (the legal kind) for a few years, and it's been great for cooking. This spring I had overflowing pots of mint, rosemary, basil, cilantro, parsley and sage. I was gone for a few weeks and all but the rosemary died. Sad day. It's been too hot to get any more herbs, but a few weeks ago and yesterday I went to the farmer's market (I feel so folksy at the market, like I should be wearing a sundress and flats and should have gone to the market on a vintage bicycle... that's beside the point) to get some more plants.

We're still in limbo about the house, so I can't invest in anything big like a red maple tree because I have nowhere to put it. I'm hoping to have a grand landscaping plan for our new place that we can implement little by little. But it's REALLY hard to resist pretty and cheap plants. So... I came home with some containers. I'll get sage and cilantro next time I go to the farmer's market

This is an ornamental pepper. Isn't it pretty? I just love it.

My new little English Mint. She goes in a bigger container later today.

My resilient rosemary. This plant is a couple years old--keeps going strong!

I already have two bougainvillea but they didn't bloom again this fall for some reason. Might be in too much shade. Hopefully they'll bloom in the spring. I think we live too far north to fulfill my dreams of having big bougainvillea bushes, but at least I can have them in containers.

My bloom-less bougainvillea. I still love you!

I've had irises a few years and they have only bloomed once. Any suggestions?

I've had this thai basil less than a month and it's just grown and grown. Yay!

My genovese (shout out) basil. I used some leaves in a recipe on Monday.

This was a gift from my friend Spooky. It's some kind of succulent and I started it from a cutting probably two years ago. It's just now starting to grow well, so maybe I wasn't watering it enough. Or something. I told you I have a black thumb!

MY FAVORITE. My mother-in-law and I just fell in love with this ornamental pepper Black Pearl plant. The leaves are PURPLE! I'm going to put this with the other pepper plant in a container.

How are y'all gardening this fall? Any tips for my adventures in FOR REAL gardening at our new house?

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