I’ve decided that Friday’s are going to be “garden” days. As previously mentioned, this is completely new territory for me. Power tools & craigslist seem to be my more cultivated talents but it’s important to try new things and branch out. The experience thus far can be summed up in the following 3 sentences.

Week 1: Nothing’s really sprouting.

Week 2: BAM!! Holy crap stuff is growing?!!!

Week 3: Hey look! I didn’t kill it all!

To be honest, Week 3 got off to a bit of a rough start but I’m happy to report it’s not a complete and total fail {yet}.

Two days after last week’s post about how stupendous & suprising it was to have things growing, everything almost died.

See… the seeds are sitting in the sunny window of my office. When I left on Friday, I thought everything was plenty hydrated.

When I stopped by Sunday to drop off flat #2 {which you see in the background}, it was quite clear that that it was not.

Flat #1 quickly got a good soaking and most everything seems to have perked around - thriving even. Some seeeds… well… rest in peace little buddies.

Dead Cilantro:

RIP Thyme:

[Below] That far back row is thyme. Some of them seem to be doing well. The 2 all the way on the left are pretty much gone for.

[Above] The next 3 rows down {from the little white marker to the chives} are rosemary. It is NOT doing well at all. Perhaps I need to reread those growing directions. Only 1.5 little squares of rosemary seem to be doing slightly better than “ok” and about half are almost completely vacant.

[Below] The chives are chugging along. Not going gang-busters but not dying either. I’ll take ‘not dying’!

[Above & barely Below] Cilantro. Like the Thyme - some good, some bad. I have plenty more cilantro seeds for try #2 though.

[Above & Below] The star of the show! My BASIL!!!! It is loving this window and doing awesome. Go, Basil! Go!! {said in my best Great Mouse Detective voice}

There’s such a fine line between too much water and not enough. C’est la vie.

Here’s hoping I can keep them all alive through this weekend!!

I have never had a green thumb. Gardening wasn’t much of a pastime. . . um. . . ever.

Last summer I attempted to grow basil and tomatoes. The basil did ok. The tomatoes were an epic fail; never producing more than the fruit already budding when I purchased it.

I realized that, while the backyard faces south, the GIGANTIC tree sitting in the corner blocks all.of.the.light. Wonderful for shade. Not so awesome for growing things.

Undeterred, I am on a mission to make something grow. Currently contemplating a little rooftop garden but it’s too early to tell whether or not that’s a feasible idea.

In the meantime, I decided to start some seeds.

To be completely honest, the only thing I ever remember growing from a seed was grass in a little plastic cup as a kid. Completely unchartered territory for me. But I want to grow something, darnit!

Decided to start with herbs. Yum.

In the middle of March, I went to get my supplies. Planted a flat of herbs on March 17. One week later, things looked like this -

One week later – BAM!!!

Things are a GROWING!!!

When I first took the clear plastic humidifier thing off, I noticed some white fuzzy fungus growing in several of the little boxes.
 
A sprinkle of cinnamon on everything and taking off the plastic lid so things could dry out seemed to kill most of it.

On the menu {from left to right OR bottom to top, depending on your perspective}:

• Summer Long Basil
• Red Rubin Basil
• Lemon Basil
• Cilantro
• Chives
• Rosemary
• Thyme

Makes me think of this song -

We’ll check in with it next Friday.