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Tag Archives: Gardening

So Why Not Herbs?

05 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by Marianne On a Mission in Uncategorized

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Tags

flowering plants, Gardening, help with growing plants, herb garden, herbs, plants

If you read my post on my grandmother’s stellar gardening abilities (Gardening With Gram: Anything Grows, September 18) and how I do not take after her in that regard, you can grasp the significance of this next venture of mine.

I will grow an herb garden in my greenhouse window so I can have fresh herbs. You know, for all the gourmet cooking I do. No, really.

image
I’ve been told I need to get closer to the Earth, walk barefoot in the grass, dig in the dirt, grow stuff, and all that. But the Earth hates me. The entire Great Outdoors hates me.

Tried the barefoot in the grass thing many times. That’s not just grass down there. That’s thistles and sticks and bugs and rocks. They know I’m there. I don’t know they are there. I tread on them. Not good.

And dig in the dirt? I’m not sure what they have in there but it makes my hands break out in a rash.

Trying to deal with leafy and flowering plants turns me into a big itchy mass of insect bites. Bugs love me. They bite me. I’m on their special menu all the time. Then I stay away from the plants and: they die.

So I try to know my limits when it comes to growing and gardening and go with it. But I noticed something this past summer that might be the answer to this whole ‘get close to the Earth’ thing.

Herbs appear to grow when they are in my custody. I know this because I had several pots of herbs lining my deck and as of this very day……they still live.
image

I took the major leap of faith, transplanted them into smaller pots, and arranged them in my sunny, warm garden window. As you can see, they are perky and happy.

So here’s the deal. You, my readers, will encourage me to nurture and cultivate these pretty plants because I will post photo updates every few weeks. I’m making a big commitment here……putting it out to the entire world…….so I’ll need to be diligent.

I will remember to water them, trim them, feed them…….even chat with them. They will reward me with fresh chives, rosemary, oregano, mint, parsley and basil!

My family will revel in the fresh new flavors that infuse my cooking with new life!

Omigod, what have I done! The pressure is on! Let the growing begin!

Sunday, October 5: all is well.

Sunday, October 5: all is well.

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Gardening With Gram: Anything Grows

18 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by Marianne On a Mission in Uncategorized

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Tags

cannabis, family, funny stuff, Gardening, Marijuana

I recently received an invitation from a Master Gardeners group to join them in learning how to make my garden beautiful. Couple of things wrong with this idea.

First, I don’t have a garden. I have a few pots of herbs, which, miraculously, have not perished.

And second, I have the quintessential black thumb. Nothing will make me a Master Gardener, but thanks anyway.

My paternal grandmother, Leta Neal, was the opposite. She grew up on her grandfather’s farm in Cumberland County, New Jersey, and even though she spent most of her life in the city, she never lost her talent for growing things.

In her urban garden, she grew marigolds, mint, lily of the valley…even roses, in the not so fertile soil of downtown Philadelphia.

She could grow anything. Give her a dead stick, and snap, she resurrected it. It bloomed anew. Plants loved her.

Which brings me to a Gardening With Gram story renowned in the annals of family history.

Gram and the Tropical Plant

Gram lived in the old family home on South Second Street well into her eighties. I brought my kids to visit often. She loved having them, they loved the alien urban world she lived in, and we could visit Uncle Harry (my brother) and Aunt Sis, who lived next door because they had two cats, Queenie and Squeek, to play with.

We drove in one sunny Saturday. The kids headed to the back yard to explore the old shed and maybe check in with the cats, and Gram and I sat in the living room with cool drinks.

I noticed she had a new plant on the windowsill. It was thriving, of course. She had trash picked it a couple of weeks before, she said, when someone discarded it, apparently dead.

Wow, it looks great. You saved its life. Really bushy and so green…full and lush…..and….what unusual, glossy, five-fingered leaves….

I’m no expert, but I was pretty sure my eighty–five year old grandmother was growing marijuana.

I went next door. Harry, I think we have a situation at Gram’s.

He took one look and quirked an eyebrow at me. Yep, Gram was growing cannabis. In her front window.

And wasn’t it a good thing I noticed it before the cop on the beat!

Now what? We hatched a plot.

I told her I had a friend who loved tropical plants. Would she let me have this one to give as a gift? It was really unusual and my friend would love it.

Long story short, I drove home with a cannabis plant and my two kids in the car. And as much as I hate to destroy living things, I had to let this plant die. Not difficult for me. RIP.

Nowadays, with all the changes in marijuana laws, I think Gram could have had a nice little cottage industry for herself.

We would have to tell her what the tropical plant really was, though.

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Marianne Kirby Rhodes

Marianne Kirby Rhodes

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