Operation Herb Garden Part I (by Chris)

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted a vegetable garden. I think it stems from a childhood memory of going next door to my neighbor's house for dinner, her mother had her own vegetable garden and I have this vivid memory of pulling a carrot out of the ground, roots still attached, covered with soil and smelling like earth and then washing it off and biting into it. It was amazing.

Yeah, they looked like this. Delicious.

Unfortunately apartment life is not very conducive to growing a vegetable garden, lack of space inside and a large yard outside puts a damper on these plans, so I am giving the next best thing a shot, an herb garden. From what I have heard and read growing herbs is relatively easy and something you can manage to do indoors without a lot of space. I had been meaning to pick up herbs but kept forgetting, then Amy spotted at Target these small little herb greenhouses, only $1 each we picked up one that had cilantro seeds, one had sweet basil and a small mini terracotta planter which will grow some daisies for the fun of it. These are going to be the test pilot herbs for our herb garden and will keep everyone updated each step of the way.

The instructions were pretty straight forward, put 6 tablespoons of water in a cup, add the two soil discs they give to you, allow to absorb water completely. The first time I did this I was completely mesmerized by what was happening, I won't spoil it for you, it's cool.

Then take the growing medium now moist and ready to go, place it in the small green house the give you, place no more than 10 seeds on the soil, lightly press down and put the top on. Keep in a sunny area and ensure it stays moist (I decided to put ours on the air conditioner in the kitchen, gets plenty of sun and I can water them easily). 

GERMINATION!

So there it is. Checked on the seeds today and they have started germinating. Operation Herb Garden has begun. Once these have grown an inch or two I'll need to transfer them to a larger planter, after that if all goes according to plan I'll be looking into getting a whole lot more and planting a larger herb garden outside on our roof. 

I purchased awhile back these vintage spoons engraved with herbs on them from www.etsy.com (one of my favorite sites in the world) to mark which herbs are which. All said and done hopefully will look fantastic and Amy and I will have some fresh herbs to make some fresh dishes. There is nothing like the smell of fresh herbs while cooking up a delicious meal with the girl you love.