Spring is here, and I love flowers, plants, veggies, and herbs. However, I have no garden, patio, deck or balcony. Instead, I have a small room filled with west facing windows. When I first came here, we went out and purchased a lighting system, so I could grow some plants. I started out with planting a lot of seeds in little newspaper pots. I planted broccoli, herbs, roma tomato, peppers, and much more. But sadly, quite a few contracted something called downy mildew, and were slowly dying. I pruned infected leaves, as much as I could, but in the end, I had to toss out several, because they had died. I did save a few though, some asparagus ferns, lavender, chamomile, and a sage. Now, my lighting system has two levels, the top for seedlings, and the lower level for large plants, such as an Easter Lily the fiance bought for me a few days ago. I've never kept a lily indoors under artificial lighting, so hopefully it works out. Yet another plant experiment I have going.
Growing up, I never really lived with anyone who really gardened. The most gardening experience I had, was watching family members bring in houseplants, then watching them slowly wither away from neglect. So, my knowledge of plants and gardening is very limited. But I am learning by the day. I have had some success though. Shortly after Christmas, I planted a few basil seeds, and a few weeks ago, I got to harvest some leaves off of the basil plant. And now, I am harvesting at least 30 leaves off of it every Sunday. It's fantastic having fresh basil, from my own plant when I need it.
That said, I will not give up! I'm starting to plant seeds once again, with new strategies. Instead of using newspaper pots, I'm trying out toilet paper rolls, which is much easier to control where the water goes, smaller, and it seems to be easier, in general. Here in this photo, I'm growing some Yolo Wonder bell peppers, and some dimorphotheca flowers. I had dimorphotheca sprouting before, but it was yet another seedling to fall victim to the downy mildew plague that swept through my apartment. Hopefully this one will be better, I think I eliminated the problems that caused it.
I also planted more basil. I couldn't help it. I love my basil plant, I want a continuous stream of herbs coming through to my kitchen. I have taken a liking to freezing my basil leaves. After I harvest from my plant, I rinse off the leaves, and pat them dry. Then, I fill up an ice cube tray halfway, drop about 5 leaves into each ice cup, and put in the freezer. When those are completely frozen, I fill up the ice cube try completely and freeze again. Then, I take the cubes out, and put them in a ziploc bag. To put in spaghetti, or any other pasta dish, I just drop the ice cube in the pan with my pasta sauce, the ice will melt in it, and the excess water will evaporate, leaving me with the basil. I'd imagine this will work with any herb as well. I'm going to try it. The taller seedling is cilantro - I lost my last cilantro to spider mites (I had no idea they even existed until I googled them. By then it was too late for the plant). This one will do better, I have a counter measure in place when those evil spider mites come back.
In addition to my little sunroom container garden, I also have plants scattered throughout the windowsills in the apartment. I have these 4 behind the couch. The first one is apparently a polka dot plant. It was a mystery plant I fell in love with at the nursery (hey, I can't pass up a pink plant!), I asked a worker what kind of plant it was, and she told me... but by the time I walked out of the door with it, I had forgotten. So I googled, and google told me what it was. It's a little unruly with the flower spikes, and I think it needs a trimming... really soon. The second plant is my lemon balm that I nursed from seeds. I LOVE this plant. I don't know why. I think the leaves are gorgeous and I love the shape of them. When you rub a leaf and smell it, it smells just like lemons. And, people make teas out of lemon balm as well. The last two... planted in a Panera and a McDonald's cup, are Asparagus ferns. They aren't the most attractive plants I've seen, but they add greenery and pretty into the apartment.
I seem to have knitted washclothes under every plant. It's funny because while I was on Amtrack, moving here, I made tons and I had no idea what I was going to do with 8 washcloths. Now, I have at least 20, and am constantly running out. I always have to rummage through my yarn to find more cotton to knit up some more.
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