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Thinking of starting a garden this year? Is the thought of putting together garden beds kinda’ daunting? I just discovered TogetherFarm Blocks, which make putting together a garden box as easy as playing with LEGO blocks! Here’s how they work:
You can order them in boxes of 24 bricks, in five different colors. Imagine the colorful garden possibilities. No more garden fears — get building and get growing!
The logical part of me knows that even though it looks like legos in the picture, it’s really much larger. But the whole rest of my brain is screaming “Look at the teeny tiny planter and the adorable miniature plants!” I need something next to those for context.
I know, my first thought was “Where’s the scale bar?”
Oh jeez! I totally see that now! HA. Click the linkies and you’ll get some scale.
I have a minor gardening issue that’s been vexing me for a few months and I hope one of my fellow Offbeat readers can help me!
I like in an apartment (no balconies, unfortunately) and I’ve had pretty good luck with my little windowsill gardens. All my windows are east-facing so there’s plenty of natural light throughout the day, especially in the morning. I have succulents, cacti, shamrock plants, ranunculi, etc. and they’re all happy and thriving.
But herbs, on the other hand, I can’t keep alive for more than a few weeks. I’ve tried basil, mint and rosemary, and they dry up and die in the blink of an eye. They get the same amount of light as the other plants, they get water as needed and a drop of liquid fertilizer about every two weeks. They just refuse to live.
Does anyone have any idea what’s going on here? What can I do to make them stay alive?
Rosemary is an herb from an arid area of the Mediterranean. It really hates having wet feet, but enjoys being misted (like you would get from ocean spray, but without the salt). So, depending on how you are watering, that would be my guess for the rosemary.
As for the mint & basil:
Have you examined the plants while they are in the process of dying? Are there yellow or black spots (signs of disease)? Are there little cobwebby things with teeny-tiny little red bugs (spider mites, a kind of aphid-y thing)? Is there a draft in that window that lets in cool/cold/too hot air?
I have no help. Just chiming in to say you are not alone. I’ve never been able to keep indoor herbs alive either
Rosemary is really hard to grow. Are you starting your herbs from seed or buying small plants? If you’re buying plants that are already started, they may be used to a very specific greenhouse environment, and can’t handle your windowsill. I’ve had good luck growing basil from seed, especially using jiffy pellets and a little plastic dome thingy. Lettuce is also really easy to grow indoors from seed.