A post about horticulture.

Sometime around January, when I'm over the snow and coldness of winter, I start craving the feel of warm dirt on my hands. I know. Weird. I hate dirt. But I love gardening. I love growing stuff.

Last year, I started growing my garden plants in early spring using those little greenhouse planters. I started sprouting the flowers for the front yard, the squash and corn and tomatoes that I planned to plant in the garden later in the Spring. And then I let them die. I just kind of forgot about them. This year, though, after last year's collosal failure and consequent discovery of Engh's Garden Center, I decided to skip it and just buy the plants when I'm ready to put them in the ground.

The exception to this, though, is my little herb garden. I'm growing basil and oregano on my kitchen window sill, and I'm proud as a mother hen about those little plants. They seem to be doing quite well.


The only problem has been a small infestation of aphids. I'm a vegetarian. I don't usually eat things that have been alive at any time, this includes bugs. Even Gordon, who is not a vegetarian, objects to eating the clearish-green little creatures. So I had to find a way to get rid of them. And wouldn't you know it...I discovered a new use for my favorite household cleaner...Dr. Bronners. I put a drop or two of the Miracle Soap into a spraybottle of water and sprayed the leaves and stems. Apparently, this will rid us of the aphid problem. I'll keep you posted...

I discovered that the basil grows a lot better if you continually harvest the full sized leaves. This gives the new leaves nutrients and room to grow. This posed a bit of a problem. I love to grow things, but I don't have the foggiest clue about what to do with said herbs when they are ready to be harvested. I mean, we have discussed my cooking prowess, which does not actually exist. So I have all of these lovely herbs and nothing to do with them.

Back to the Internet I went, looking for the best way to preserve fresh herbs. And I discovered Herb-sicles. A brilliant lady who deserves credit for her idea (but whose name and web address I have forgotten), suggested cutting the fresh herbs and putting them in the bottom of an ice cube tray. Cover the herbs with water and freeze them. This is a good way to keep the fresh flavor. When you need fresh herbs, just pop out an ice cube or two, let it melt in a strainer and you are left with fresh-ish herbs. See?


So there you have it. Herb-sicles.

And yes, this is likely to be the most boring blog I've ever written.