Garden Goodness

This is what my kitchen windowsill looks like right now. I always have a couple house plants, aloe (for those times when I burn myself on a hot pan or popping grease,) and a lemon geranium (it's peeking in the left side of the picture,) but I wanted something different, something new for winter.

In past years we've dug up our geraniums from the flowerbed and brought them inside to bloom all winter, and last year Arlene dug up a pepper plant to overwinter. We've also entertained parsley for the cold months a time or two.

This year, I decided I wanted some fresh herbs for my kitchen. So back in late October (before the first frost) I picked a warm Saturday morning and went to work. We had several end-of-the-season tasks to complete in the yard, and then I dug through my extra flowerpot supply in the garage to find something for herbs. I wasn't entirely sure how it was going to work out, but so far, so good. Because the basil is such a water hog, I decided to put each herb in its own small pot (4-5" across) and them arrange them in the larger pot as a grouping. I filled the bottom of the large pot with rocks a little bigger than golf balls to elevate the pots to near the top (and to even out the various sizes.)

The garlic chives and oregano were easy, I just used my trowel and dug them from the garden. The basil was a little more involved. Actually, it was the basil that started this whole idea in the first place. I had cut some basil to make spaghetti sauce, and of course I cut way more than I needed, so I put the extras in a glass vase to brighten up the kitchen counter. A day of two later I needed the counter space to make something (probably pizza,) so I moved the vase over to the window ledge. Guess what? The basil started growing roots. So I decided if the cuttings were determined to grow roots, I would give then a pot. Voila!

I know, thats not a large pot of oregano, but I cut quite a bit that day and its drying for my spice jar. Yeah, its dry already, but I haven't had time to strip the leaves into the jar yet... maybe next week.

In case you're wondering, yes, those are tomatoes hiding out in the bottom corner of the picture. We ... (the girls) picked all the green ones before the first frost. While they're not quite as tasty as eating them ripe off the vine, they'll be yummy in tacos!

Hope you enjoyed this small peek into our kitchen, and the herbs that will hopefully brighten our days all winter long.