Into the Dirt

This week I dug into the dirt. Not outside. It is cold outside and there are several feet of snow on the ground. The herbs that enjoyed a glorious summer outside on my back balcony that were living inside by my kitchen window were looking pretty drab.

I loved the little garden that I had last summer. My thumbs are not green by any means, but I did have some good success. I had a small collection of herbs, amaranth (for decoration) tomatoes and flowers. One plant I cannot keep alive is Rosemary. Funny, eh? She is a picky plant, needing a lot of attention. I am on about my sixth Rosemary plant, my most recent one drying up after total neglect over the holidays. This last plant was a strange one. It grew a lot last winter indoors, however during the summer I don’t think it grew more than a centimeter. When I brought it inside this winter it shot up again. The next Rosemary plant may be the one the one that grows as big as a small bush.

Along with saying goodbye to my Rosemary, this week I dug into my basil plant. It was actually doing quite well and still had a considerable amount of green plants, but really was not growing. I am sure it would have been fine for the winter, but I decided to snip it to eat and use the pot to plant some micro greens. Nothing has sprung up yet, but I will keep you posted about how they are doing.

It is always good to put your hands in the dirt, even if it is on your kitchen island. A few weeks ago I come across a piece of writing I did last spring. “There is something so childlike about putting your hands in dirt. Last weekend I planted some morning glories. Morning glories are incredible. Each morning this week I have gotten out of bed so excited to see if anything it popping up. Finally, on Friday, a few small plants. Soon they are going to be growing off the poles.” Those morning glories actually took much longer than usual to grow, but still ended up beautiful.

So far I have been enjoying winter in Montreal. We have had some beautiful snowfalls and it has not been crazy cold for long periods of time (though yesterday was around -20° C). I like the winter, it allows you to slow down and think. I have a few plans for my garden next year. I would like to start my herbs from seed, just of the challenge of it and I am planning on installing a vertical garden on the balcony. And of course I will be getting a new Rosemary plant.