Curiosity stage

I can't resist posting a picture of the greenery part of the chicken casserole I made yesterday. All green parts have been grown in our flat. I put purslane, french tarragon and a turnip leaf in there. They look so good before the cooking has reduced them to green threads.

My gardening has reached the curiosity stage. I drink tea from my own mint ever so often and will soon cut the basil forest to make pesto. Small citrus fruits are occupying our kitchen while waiting to become marmalade. Or rather season marmalade, since their own taste are much too bitter. I think I'll dry the sage and hand it out in small bags to my friends - I have way too much of it. This stage is nice, but it's far away from supplying an entire family with vegetables. The good thing is that I'm now able to make a first count on how long it will take me to get everything going in full harvest cycles.

I think it'll take about two years, although the mileage will vary.

It's beginning to grow on me...

I couldn't resist posting a better photo on my pansies. The last one's got a horrible reddish tint. Turned out they weren't that much of a bummer. Pansies are edible, and thus they have a place in this home. I haven't tried them yet, though, since I'm not sure how much poison and other muck the retailer have used on them. In my copious free time (ahahah*) I may some day call them and find out.

I'm definately starting to get a surplus. The basil will soon ask for citizenship or house mimmoths unless I'll find out how to make pesto soon. I still haven't found out what to do with the sage - and even the tarragon are putting on airs.

And of course; I didn't come around to replant the purslane. I have to stay content thinning it out instead. But I wont need to worry about finding a purpose - it can be used as spinach...

You may have noticed that this blog have hiccupped the last week. I've gotten a new job, and are rearranging my schedule. I'm trying to cram five entities into a time space where only three can fit. Believe or not - I'm about to make it. Jay!

Instant herbgarden

The two things that have worked well so far is 1. added light and 2 selfwatering pots. Today I took the consequences of this and built two giant selfwatering pots, using the plastic box "Flaj" from IKEA. (We have an enormous amont of these, and they are used for everything, from wind shield to foot bath.) I sowed common purslane, turnip and carrot in one, and planted herbs and sallat in the other. A small spot that's green already makes gardening more fun. I bought the herbs and the sallat in the vegetable section at ICA (like Walmarts or Tesco), which is both a curse and a blessing. A curse since you have absolutely no guarantee that the plants are free from pests. A blessing since the herbs are big in size and cheap. Right now I'm looking at the result of my efforts and wonder how many of the plants that will recover once they realise that they are in a new garden. Some of them seems to be weak (should have been more picke at the mall), so I've already made a replacement plan.

Sowed in box 1
Common Purslane
Turnip
Carrot

Planted in box 2
Sallat
Basil
Sage
Tarragon