Desperation Gardening

Today, finally, I was able to get outside, turn over one of my vegetable beds and plant peas. Just yesterday it was 24 degrees when I woke up. I've been pursuing the prAna catalog looking wistfully at their new swimsuit line, but, honestly, I was flipping through the pages wishing they'd make flannel yoga pants.

About two months ago, desperate to see something growing, I got creative. I had been on Pinterest, my favorite idea generator, and saw an indoor garden created with jars set at an angle in a wooden shelf. Anyplace I could hang a shelf in my kitchen wouldn't get enough light, so I went straight to the window. My husband drilled through some dryer vent clamps and screwed them into the window frame.

Saved pasta sauce jars were filled with potting soil and seeds. The jars were clamped into place and turned toward the window. A few weeks later I had salad greens, parsley and basil. I'm enjoying the bounty of my little indoor garden.

But, to tell the truth, I was only slightly less desperate. I am very glad for a warm day and bright sunshine. Welcome spring!

A Speck of Green

Image via Wikipedia

Thirteen days into my winter windowsill herb garden project I was wondering what I'd done wrong. I was misting the soil every day. The sun had been out, warming up the bay window. A few days earlier I had covered the peat pots with plastic wrap to keep the soil from drying out too quickly. Despite my care, all I had were pots full of dirt.

Then, the morning of day thirteen, I lifted the plastic on the pot of thyme seeds to water them and, could it be? Yes! A tiny speck of green. I looked at it a few times, just to make sure it wasn't a trick of the light or, worse, a desperate hallucination. It was definitely something green.

By the end of the day there were three specks. Two days later the pot was sprinkled with little green plants. Later that day the thyme was joined by the first hint of a dill plant.

The thyme continues to grow, spreading tiny leaves toward the sunlight coming through the window. There are five dill plants which have gotten tall enough to require some toothpicks to lift the plastic wrap. And, today, there are three specks of green in the parsley pot and the first sage seedling is breaking through the soil.

Outside might be covered with ice, but it feels like spring on my windowsill.