Hello, Springtime! Love, Maggie

Spring seems to have finally clicked here in the NW, and this weekend I got an itch to start working outside and logging some really good yard work time. Since my gardening resources at home are limited, and last years 'crop' was a bit of a bust I decided to go with another route this year. I am planning to do a larger garden with some friends on their small family farm (which luckily is nearby) so I didn't need to really have veggies outside my door. Herbs, however, I use constantly. So having a small herb garden, and even a few tomatoes, made sense.

I (with quite a bit of help) threw together some wood boxes, and planted basil, mint, thyme, rosemary and parsley. I still have a bit of room in my planter boxes, and I'm hoping to find some good cilantro plants soon.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow!

Mini-Gardening Successes

My little garden(ing pots) have taken off pretty well, although some are doing better then others. My herbs are sort of struggling along, but my onions, lettuce and carrots are doing just peachy.

Now here's the really funny part. I'm scared to eat my lettuce. Gracie keeps telling me I need to or it's going to go to seed, but I just can't make myself. I don't know why. It's very intimidating for some off reason.

On an odd note: anyone have any idea when to harvest onions or carrots?

The joys of herbs!

So I am thinking once we make this long move of ours about setting up some herb boxes. I want the ones I use a lot, like basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme and such but I think I also want some that are more medicinal. Like allspice is great for the common cold, or aloe that is used for many things besides sunburns. I think that knowing more about herbs and knowing different ways to use them medicinally is a good thing for any family working on preparedness.

What are your favorite herbs for food or for medicine?