Herb-an Renewal.

The music: Ambling Alp by Yeasayer. Go forth.

Contrary to popular opinion, I wasn't sitting at home rocking back and forth sucking my thumb for the week and three days (ish) I was without Internet here. I felt like it, at times. But thanks to my brain (which won't shut off), and my need for hobbies (which won't shut up), I was able to make my own fun, starting at the end of last week.

It's all because of this new book I read, called Urban Pantry. It's fantastic. And in it, she discusses the whys and hows of planting a rooftop herb garden.

Now, this was revolutionary, because I've had a flat roof for as long as I've lived in this house, but due to a screen on my window I never felt the need to use it for anything.

After discussing the idea with my mom (she of the green thumb and, up til then, a daughter disinterested in her favorite hobby) she wholeheartedly helped me pop the screen out of my window and set up the beginnings of my very own rooftop garden.

Thanks to the fact that I can't let anything go once I've had the inspiration, I started last Friday by buying two thyme plants: one English thyme, and one Lemon thyme. So, my wee garden started out quite small. One concrete pot, two thyme starts, and a tiny ceramic cottage.



But could I stop there? Do you even need to ask?

Sifting through my herb encyclopedia, I dog-eared a few herbs that I wanted. The criteria would be:

1) Happy in small containers.
2) Have multiple uses (not JUST for a particular sort of food/medicinal effect).
3) Be able to flower, eventually. Because I like bees. I can't help myself.
4) Not necessarily the herbs everyone THINKS of when they think of herbs.

Now, not quite a week later, my wee garden is still fairly wee, but it has definitely expanded. A few more miniature houses*, some Value Village pots, and some bricks (that my mom says have "character") later, my garden looks like this:



Sorta fun, no? The cast of characters, left to right: black candle holder (not an herb, obviously), chamomile (in the teapot), curry (tall one in the back), the thyme twins (I think I'll call them Simon and Garfunkel), Miss Katherine-variety pink lavender (tall and stately, she is), and dwarf marjoram (which is essentially mild oregano).

So far they seem to be loving the full sun they get all day, and my hope is that they'll grow big and strong, winter over, and give me a lovely crop and happy flowers next year. :)

The moral of the story is, happy things can still happen when the Internet goes away. You DO realize there was a world before Internet, don't you?

Happily blogging again,

-The GLS

*The miniature houses are not just to be cutesy. I happen to have more than my fair share of them, and it seemed a fun way to display them. And, you know, why not?