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.

Neon Basil and Lavender - Christmas Colors?????

I have been hunting basil for the last three weeks.  It seems all the basil in the city froze with the frost three weeks ago.  But this weekend I found some at the new Trader Joes' that opened a couple months ago. 

So I bought four cups of the stuff and made basil lemon jelly.

When I was hunting for the perfect basil jelly recipe, I ran across a lavender jelly recipe.  YES!  That necessitated finding lavender buds.  I had to order them from Herb Affair, my best "buds" in herbs and stuff.  I had no idea what a cup looked like and Carrie wanted to make some sachets for her girlfriends for Christmas, so  got a pound.

Well, let me tell you, a pound of lavender is like a gallon in size!   I used 1/2 cup for the Lavender Jelly.  So I think I will use some in sachets as well.

Right in the middle of the process I realize I had only yellow food coloring.  Lavender jelly is not yellow.  So that needed a trip to the store for some neon gel colors.  Not happy about the neon, but that was all there was.  It did make the Basil Jelly cool looking though!

Neon Basil!  Neon Lavender!

see my teapot from the 1890s

So now I am the proud owner of 6 each Neon Basil Jelly and Lavender Jelly.

Both are amazing in taste.  You really need to taste the lavender.  It tastes.........well.........lavender!

And all this while my hand is taped.  When i was hooking the Bad Basset Boyz in their harnesses one jumped up and hyper-extended my two fingers.  Doesn't hurt if they stay immobilized.

It will be better in a few days, meanwhile, I can't cook dinner or clean anything.......got that?

A Little Salsa by the Bay

I made Salsa with my tomatoes from the Farmer's Market from last weekend.  They needed to be used and I was going to leave for the Texas Shop Hop.  And I knew Frank would not use them and they would be rotten by the time I got back.

So I used some of the mason jars I bought for the Sweet Basil Jelly (since I had no basil yet) and canned some salsa in a hot water bath.

This picture is my salsa sitting by one of my bay trees.  Since they went into the ground the bays have grown at least a foot but maybe closer to 18 inches. They just needed a place to live!  Bays are actually Grecian Laurels but are also called Sweet Bay Trees.  They grow to 35 feet but will trim nicely into a hedge if you like that.  Mine will be a two bush hedge.

I need about 2 cups of fresh basil.  If you have some extra basil I would trade that for some of the Sweet Basil Jelly!  I thought I had a basil bush, but I have oregano, rosemary, thyme, mint and lemon balm.  Lots of oregano..........