All the Green Things
Remember the wee lettuces?
Yeah. Well. Two months later...
...not so wee. More like whoa.
Also, my too small to properly photograph herbs have become:
Ummm... Anyone have suggestions on what to do with all. that. dill?? (There is some parsley and cilantro and a basil somewhere in there, too, deep in the dill forest.)
The parsley has recovered from its terrible woe...
...and after being picked for use and tended and thinned of old sprigs (and yes, well watered, but not *too* much, the poor parched picky souls)...
...is still going strong and sending up new shoots almost a year after being planted! (You ought to see the size of the roots on those things. Almost as big around as my pinky finger!)
The chives went from this...
...to this. They have lost their flipping minds.
In fact, all the little green things seem to love the front side of the house.
So, I'm ready to move on from the Great Basil Depression of 2013 (saddest herbs ever...*twice* last season).
Cross your fingers that 2014 isn't another basil massacre. I hope they thrive as much as their cousins in this new location. Sun-warmed basil...definitely in my Top Five Favorite Scents.
2 with their own thoughts:
I am so SO incredibly jealous! I have only had success with chives. I kill basil every spring or early summer. Same with dill, it does not like my temps or something. I tried lettuce from seeds once and nothing ever came up. Is yours in a deep or shallow pot? I'd love to get lettuces to grow. My parsley is ok, the leaves just never get big, it's just tiny. My rosemary is very woody, but it is quite hardy, even made it through the winter we had, outside, uncovered. I really want to get dill and lettuce and basil to grow though, so I need your green thumb! :)
Stacy: I hardly have a green thumb! I don't even know what I am doing! I can tell you this: I've had decent luck with parsley where I grew it before (on the screen porch), minimal luck with chives, and the first year, I had great basil, but last year, it was so rainy all summer that two planting of basil literally rotted. I have never planted dill or lettuces before this spring. My parsley (I have some Italian and some curly) and my chives are in shallow planters. I had T bring them in when we had frost warnings, so when days were pleasant, he just moved them from the garage to the driveway because it was easier than tracking them back and forth to the screen porch. Then I noticed that they all seemed to be growing like crazy up there, so I decided to leave them there, along the back edge of the driveway, for as long as they are happy. I don't know how they will fare during the summer there, but we'll see. The dill is new (that's in a deep planter because that's what I had), so that is purely experimental. The lettuces are also new (also a deep planter). I am trying basil again, tentatively, but this time they are in a medium-depth planter (deeper than the parsley/chives, but not as deep as the dill/lettuces). I'm going to let them stay put for as long as they are happy and if they start sunburning up there when we hit summer, I will try moving them to a spot that gets slightly less sun during the day (they're probably getting about 8 hours right now). Whew. All that to say maybe try moving them around? See if they do better with more or less sun, spots that get more light from morning til noon, which is less intense than midday into afternoon? Definitely don't overwater. Herbs do not like wet feet. I water only when they start to droop a little! And make sure they are in soil and planters that get enough drainage. I also give them a little shot of MiracleGro for veggie plants about once a month. And keeping them well-groomed stimulates more growth! That is as much as I have learned! What I thought were unsuccessful plants in the past turns out that the sprigs have a natural life span, so the dying ones had simply passed maturity and needed to be removed. Then the plant can spend its energy on new sprouts instead of trying to sustain ones that were past their prime!
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