Herblets Planted and $60 Saved!

For the first part of the creation of the herb garden please click here. 

Parsley, rosemary, lemon thyme, basil, some sort of mint and Italian oregano.  And some lettuces.  Still need some lemon grass though. 

And lettuce.  I got three packs of assorted lettuce babies.


I went to two nurseries and priced herbs after lunch.  A bad lunch.  Well, a good lunch that was bad for me. California BLT, basically a BLT with avocado and my favorite onion rings.  Yes.....I ate onion rings today.

But I digress.  I priced the herbs I wanted at two nurseries at $3.50 and 4.39 for the same herbs at different places.  So when Dee called me to discuss a mutual dog cyst ailment and the drugs to treat said ailment, she said they were heading to the LSU Horticulture Club Spring Sale.

I headed out there figuring  the herbs would be somewhat cheaper, regardless.   I actually priced the same herbs at various prices throughout the Cow Palace at various booths.  All were cheaper, certainly.  I ended up at the booth asking $2 each for all my plants except for a pot of rosemary with three plants in it for $5.

Math......Cover your ears.

24 plants at average of $3.95 would be $94.80

and I paid $29 since she was getting ready to pick up and go home plus $5 for the rosemary at another booth plus $5 admission for each of us.  That was $44.

Saved myself $50!  Well, $50.82 plus all that tax!  Yay!

So I also had gotten some Vermiculite, thanks Suzette.  I  did need to put that in there.

I filled the pockets with EarthBound Soil mixed with the vermiculite and shoveled it into the pouches.

Then planted my little herblets.  They are so freakin' cute.

And stood back and admired the whole thing.  They looked infinitesimally small.  Hopefully they will grow larger.

We will see what grows and what doesn't.

And don't worry, the mint won't take over, the pockets are individually separated by that center rib.

I didn't realize that until I stated cuttin' the hardware cloth..........
Phase 1 ---------  COMPLETE

This is the view McGee and I have when we are sitting in our chairs watching the back yard go by

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My roses are doing well.  Two weeks ago I bought two knock out bushes and two new pots for the driveway.  Knock Out roses are disease free, resistant to bugs, heat tolerant, bloom all season.  Let's see if they love.  So far it seems they do.




 Today I also bought a Lantana bush for the Tufa Pot I made maybe 5 years ago.  Hypertufa is a sort of cement base pot you make in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Anything really.

A lot of artists like it because you can do so much with it as a medium.

I have several with moss growing on them.  This one was made in the bottom of a plastic tub.

The Daily Bird # 23 - Rosie the Riveting

Baby sitting duties are finished until Tuesday.  I am hoping both baby and grandma will be well again.  I am so glad to have found this new allergy doctor, I knew I was sick, but it was just a malaise rather than a down and out illness.  He is working on strengthening my immune system with a series of vaccines and anti-histamine response medications.  I haven't felt this well in years.


When I met my cousin at Middendorf's I snapped a few pics of their German Santa.  The area is known for its German settlers.  Hammond, LA was established by Peter Hammond (1798–1870), the surname anglicized from Peter av Hamerdal who was escaping the Napoleonic Wars in Europe.  

Here in South Louisiana, the German tradition of having Santa or Weihnachtsmann come on Christmas Eve is why we share our family gifts on the night of Christmas Eve.  In the morning we wake up to the Christkind or Christmas Angel who brought gifts to the children.  I love the way we separate where the gifts come from.   It  makes our gifts to each other more meaningful. 

We have talked about Middendorf's before, the best thin fried catfish in the world!   Amazing stuff, it is.

Some of the Germans settled here from the German ships that were in the New Orleans Port as World War I broke out.  They had to quickly assimilate and learn to speak English because to speak German meant you could be arrested or worse.  Eventally they sent for their families to join them in South Louisiana.   I have the German side of my genes though my mother's mother, who came to America as a young girl to work with her dressmaker Aunt Wilhelmina Pottharstt in New Orleans about that time.  they were escaping the horror of the French-German no man's land called Alsace-Lorrain. 

That probably was not the beginning of my fabric genes.  I am thinking that goes way back even further!

McGee says I need to feed him, so let me show you the ne bird quickly here.

This is Rose.  Or Rosie the Riveting, as her friends call her.  She is such a cheerful gal, she loves to gossip and she is a chirper! 

All  day long, day in and day out.  She chirps about the love birds and where they are hiding this hour.  She chirps about the Patriotic Pigeons and the new Tax Bill......get it?

LOL.  Although about now she is getting on the nerves of every bird in the room. 

I am thinking that i need to put a bird cage in there and cover that girl up for the night.