Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Porchside Gardening

Last Spring I was living in an apartment in New Jersey, where it remained fairly chilly until it should have been Summer. At no point last year did it get hot enough in North Jersey to send me scurrying into the closet to pull out shorts. I also did not have a porch of any sort, so any planting I wanted to do had to be done in the kitchen windowsill.

I made attempts at starting from seed, but the chilly weather thwarted my every attempt. When I bought starter plants, they barely grew. I can't say last year was a total bust for me plant wise, but it wasn't a blazing success either.

This year I find myself in a much warmer place and I have a porch, so I spent the weekend shopping for herbs. Yes, I didn't bother with the seeds this year as we get very little direct sunlight anyplace in the house. We have a South facing, first floor apartment, so our porch doesn't get much direct sunlight either. The very edges of the porch and the railings do though. So, while I was at the local organic farm and nursery, I picked up some window baskets made of iron and coconut skin to plant in. Here is the result of my shopping and hand dirtying:


Baby Sage and lavender


On the one ledge we have baby Lavender and baby Sage, who get the box all to themselves since they can grow quite large.


Baby Herbs


On the other ledge, in an even longer box, we have baby Eucalyptus, Thyme, Genovese Basil, Chives, Parsley and a wee Marigold for some color.

I also wanted a hanging plant to offset the windowboxes, so I brought home a strawberry plant to pot:


Strawberry Plant


If you closely at the left side, you can see there's already a baby strawberry growing. How exciting!

While my window boxes and hanging strawberry are a far cry from the herb, vegetable and lily garden I'd one day like to have, I love planting things. Getting my hands filthy and inhaling the rich scent of the Earth always has a way of unconsciously pulling all the negativity or stresses I may be suffering out of me. It grounds me and helps me feel more of a connection with nature and the world around me.

I'm also one of those people, you know the ones. You'll find me outside every so often whispering to the plants, urging them to grow. I promise I'm not crazy. ;)

***

I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your comments to my previous post. Compliments are always a wonderful thing! However, I think I may not have worded my question to you all thoroughly enough. What I meant to ask was, what is your favorite magical item... of your own! While I loved hearing which of my things you liked best, what I really wanted, was to learn about your personal tools. ;) Feel free to answer here, or post your own entry about it on your own blogs. If you do, let me know so I can take a peek!

8 comments:

  1. lol, Glad I got it right on the last post ;) I love having growing things on my veranda too, I can't WAIT to have a home of my own, with a YARD I can sink my teeth into (so to speak ;).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your window boxes and strawberries are great! How nice that you actually have an outdoor space! I know you will get so much pleasure out of it.

    My favourite magical item? I do love my witchy books - I tend to go to them for comfort when I'm needing to feel connected, as I don't have a coven, and my circle lives far and wide. But if I had to pick one item, it would be my crescent moon necklace. It's my multi-purpose talisman.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Darling girl. I love it that you have a chance to plant and watch them grow. Yous a lucky girl. If for no other reason than the attention you will be giving them (whispers and all) I am sure that you will have a lush herb garden.
    My favorite magical item is my verdi gris maiden, mother, crone candle holder. When I get rich and famous, in my next lifetime, I will purchase the greenman, horned god, king matching one. I feel such power from this piece. The kind of power that is caused by "right light" energy. It is wonderful. Everytime we light a new candle for whatever spell GK has to go through the whole she the Maiden, Mom the Mother, me the Crone informational commercial. I swear, she cracks me up. That little witchlet is a wonder...maybe she is my favorite magical item. yeah, that's it.
    (((hugs))) until next time
    Cheers on the green thumb

    ReplyDelete
  4. What lovely little window boxes.
    Its the little things that make life more magical, nurturing life and watching it grow .. can you tell i'm one of those "plant people".
    And don't worry, i think everyone talks to there plants - just only a few of us admit it aloud.

    ReplyDelete
  5. love all your hanging basket and such... sometimes you just have to plant where you can.... That strawberry plant is going to be beautiful when its full of berries...

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is going to be even so much more beautiful with everything growing!

    Kisses and love from us.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh man you're such a dork! Just kidding, I'm super jealous! I was just thinking on the way to work this morning if there's going to be anything I can plant when we [tentatively] move to NC since most of the places we're looking at have porches/patios/garden space. I figure I'll wait til I see when, exactly, we make it down there and what's in growing season... I can't wait!

    ReplyDelete
  8. How awesome!!! If you have a nursery some place close enough to travel to it every day, I would SERIOUSLY recommend you apply for a job there!! I worked at one for about a year and learned a heap of good stuff! Not to mention that's my favorite job EVER.

    ReplyDelete