My summer gardening project update

So a few weeks back, I was so excited about the prospect of having my own little oasis of herbs in my backyard this summer. A little update for you.

I've had mixed success. First I planted some cilantro and oregano in this massive pot. Each night after I planted the seeds, some little rascal outside dug them up. After 3-4 times, I was fairly convinced the seeds were gone. So I bought a cilantro starter plant while in the market one day. It is doing fabulously and is ready for harvesting. I have noticed that there are a few little sprouts coming up too around the cilantro. I'll have to wait to see if it turns out to be more cilantro or some oregano.

Next the mint. Never sprouted. So again I bought a starter plant in the market. It has grown a bunch as well. Can't wait to pick some of these beautifully delicious leaves!

Next is my parsley and summer savory. I should have likely started these seeds indoors a good month before I ended up planting them. But this was an experiment and I work by trial and error. Both are coming up slowly, hopefully I'll be able to pick some before the summer is over!

 

The basil, planted from seed is doing wonderfully. I'm going to transplant it into a bigger pot so it can spread out a bit more.

My two misses are my dill and my chives. I thought the chives would be easy, but I don't think the seeds germinated properly, same with the dill likely. Both had a couple little tiny sprouts at one point, but I think they died off, maybe due to either excessive rain or excessive heat we had in June here in Ottawa (you don't need a photo here, just picture a pot with nothing but soil in it).

So an OK effort. I'll have lots of "lessons learned" for next year!

On another gardening note, I came across this link recently. A city in Michigan is threatening jail time for a women who planted a garden in her front yard, with the hope that it would be a community project that neighbourhood kids could get involved in -- the city planning committee thinks differently. Utterly and completely ridiculous. Watch this video and see the utter and complete ridiculousness for yourself.

What will my little backyard grow

I have a teeny, tiny backyard. The joys of living in an urban townhouse setting (I'm not complaining). This summer will mark my sixth summer here. The first or second year I bought a few perennials that I planted along the patio stones and filled a few pots with colourful annuals. I've been buying new annuals year after year and keeping the same look to the backyard. I'm thinking something different this year. Something more useful -- edible stuff.

My first thought was vegetables. I love fresh garden vegetables. My parents have had a garden in their backyard for as long as I can remember. True signs of summer (or school being out) used to be the bean stalks and beet leaves poking out of dirt for the first time. However, I just don't think that is feasible in my tiny space... someday though.

Over the May long weekend I was in Vancouver and Victoria. While in Victoria I was staying with my friends Chris and Wendy. Now if you want to see a backyard vegetable oasis, check this out! I'm so jealous! And a couple months ago when he mentioned his "spring garden" was doing wonderfully, while my "garden" still had snow... well he heard about it! :)

Chris' beautiful garden

So instead of a bounty of fresh veggies in my backyard, which would likely just be food for the resident bunnies and squirels, I'll be planting an herb garden. Likely just in pots around the yard and balcony. Can't wait to taste some fresh basil, mint, cilantro, parsley, etc.

This is what I want!! (Source)

 

 

If you're in the area over the summer, do stop by for a fresh mojito!

Let's recreate Mexico in my backyard this summer!