herb planting. two weeks later

I felt I should give a little update on how my herbs are coming along. So far they're looking great! All but one have started growing. Some are looking huge and you wouldn't have guessed that I'd only planted them two weeks ago.

Let's see how the ones that had already sprouted last Friday are doing. Catgrass is definitely looking biggest with its tall shoots. But it's starting to bend down a bit. I think I may need to move it to a new home soon. Chamomile is looking taller and seems to be growing another set of leaves.

Spinach is also quite tall. It's started sprouting a second set of leaves now. Basil is getting so much bigger than before cause it's leaves are getting rounder.

Catnip is also sprouting a second set of leaves and it's looking mini but strong. Dill is so skinny I can't believe it's holding itself and the leaves up especially with being so tall.

The rest didn't even sprout their little heads till this week. Mini bell peppers are looking really strong and healthy. I'm surprised that it's growing as fast as it has in the last week. I think that its leaves are my favorite out of all my plants. Lemon balm is still tiny but pretty decent for being less than a week old.

Parsley took much longer to grow than I thought it would have. But it's looking pretty good so far. Mint is really small as it barely poked it's head out. I thought that maybe it wouldn't even take this year (which would have been disappointing since the mints are what I'm looking forward to the most).

Peppermint has the smallest sprout ever. I didn't even see it coming up until yesterday. I've heard that mints are much more difficult to grow compared to other herbs because they're so finicky. Lavender is the only one that has yet sprout. I've read that it can take up to 21 days to start growing so I haven't lost hope yet!

I need to take the weekend to read up on when I should thin my herbs (aka kill all but one of my little sprouts per herb). Also I need to find out when I should transplant them to their forever homes. I have a feeling catgrass will be coming to that stage soon. If that's the case I will need to find planters for each of them (or maybe a long herb windowsill planter for a couple of them) and I will need to buy some soil. I'm really excited for them to start getting bigger and fill my desk with their amazing scents and color.

herb planting. a lot can happen in a week

Well I'm really excited to announce that my little seedlings are growing strong! And fast! I was right that catgrass would be the first to sprout but I was wrong with who would be in a close second, chamomile!

I had made two mini greenhouses so I could take one to work (it's nice to have some life in the office). I've been observing the one at work like crazy and I can't believe how quick these little suckers have been growing. My coworker suggested that I should be taking pictures every day to show how much they've grown. Why didn't I think of that earlier?!

I will recap what has happened so far:

Day 0:
All the seeds were planted.

Day 1:
No change in status.

Day 2:
No change in status.

Day 3:
Catgrass and chamomile started sprouting. You can see them trying to push their way out of the soil. Catgrass looks like it would have an easier time cause it's looks sturdier and has a pointier tip.

Day 4:
Catgrass has grown quite a bit and has cute little dew drops hanging from it. Chamomile has a few little sprouts each with their own tiny leaves.

Spinach and basil started to sprout a little bit. Spinach has a little nub on the end of it that you can see pushing out. Basil has a tiny bit of green poking out.

Day 5:
Catgrass has grown even more overnight and is now grazing the roof of the mini greenhouse. Chamomile looks almost the same as it did the day before. The leaves may be a bit bigger.

Spinach has shot up like a weed! There's now two that are above the soil and they trying to get their leaves out of the seed shell. Basil is out a little more and the leaves have opened slightly.

There's a new addition to the sprouting group! Today catnip has poked it's head out a decent amount.

Day 6:
When I got to work today, catgrass and spinach have grown so much that not only are they touching the roof but they're bent over in the mini greenhouse.

Catgrass has a little curve in it from the constriction in the mini greenhouse. I accidentally hit one of the blades with the lid and broke it.  Chamomile seems to have grown slightly bigger leaves but not much progress compared to some of the others.

Clearly spinach has grown like crazy if it's touching the roof already! One has pushed off its seed shell and the other is still trying. Basil's leaves have gotten bigger and are starting to open nicely.

Catnip has started to grow nice and tall and it's leaves have opened up nicely.

I'm supposed to keep the lid on my mini greenhouse until all the seeds have sprouted but, since two of my seedlings are mushed up against the roof, I've decided to have it propped to the side to give those two more room to grow. I hope that doesn't affect how quickly the ones who haven't sprouted will grow.

Day 7:
Catgrass is even taller today while chamomile looks exactly the same as it did yesterday.

Spinach on the other hand has grown so much it's unbelievable. Basil is a bit taller with it's leaves spreading wide.

Catnip is also a bit taller but... there's a new addition this morning! Dill is sprouting it's little head! They all look so fragile. I really hope that I don't accidentally break them!

I wonder when the rest will start growing. Everyone at work says it reminds them of back in high school when you had to do science experiments. It's a good conversation starter though because people will comment on them when they walk by my desk. Some have even come back every day to get an update on which ones have grown and how they're looking!

herb planting. little seedlings and mini greenhouses

I've always killed plants. I only have one plant that has survived the years and years of torture I've put it through. I've purchased dozens of houseplants over the years and I'd somehow kill them all. This one has stayed with me through everything. I've forgotten to water it more times than I'd like to admit. I'd find it almost fully yellow and completely wilted down. After I watered it and it would puff back up in a day or two.

When Jade moved in a told her she needed to remind me to water it. She thought I was kidding until a few weeks later she mentioned that my plant looked dead. She was even more shocked to see that it puffed back up within a day of me watering it. She calls it the zombie plant cause it keeps coming back from the dead.

Every year I've tried to plant little seeds for an herb garden and every year nothing grows. Each year the reason for my failures are different.

• I planted too late in the year. I'd plant my seeds in May when I should have started in March.
• I over-watered them. I didn't want to forget to water them and thought that more water would make them grow faster, not realizing I was drowning them instead.
• I used old seeds. I didn't realize that even if you keep you seeds in a plastic bag that they're no longer fresh one or two years later.
• I used too big of pots. Instead of starting in a small pot and transplanting them once they were nice a healthy, I tried growing them in the huge pots I wanted them to live in.
• I left them in the sun for too long. One year I had a tiny little sprout pop up and I put it in the sun to 'help it grow' and forgot about it. It shriveled into a crisp. That was my last attempt. I was sad.

It's been a few years since I've attempted to grow anything but I'm going to try my luck again. I'm going to do everything right this time. I'm starting early enough. I won't over-water it. I won't put them directly in the sun (and if I do I'll make sure it's for a very short amount of time).

I've bought a little mini greenhouse so they're not in giant pots right off the bat. I read that these help with starting plants out from seeds. It's supposed to help with keeping up the humidity and promoting growth. It sits right in the window and has it's own little cover (which is good for keeping the cats noses out). Once the seedlings have grown strong , I can then transplant them into bigger pots.

This greenhouse has room to hold 12 seedlings. I can reuse the greenhouse every year because it comes with these cool little pucks that are filled with dirt. This is where I'll plant the individual seeds. Instead of buying a new greenhouse every year, they sell the dirt pucks separate.

I've also bought fresh seeds. Twelve different kinds. One for each dirt puck. This year I'm planting:

• Sweet basil
• Catnip
• Mini bell peppers (mixed)
• Lemon balm
• Curled parsley
• Fernleaf dill
• Mint
• Chamomile
• Lavender
• Peppermint
• Spinach
• Catgrass

The mini greenhouse came with easy step-by-step directions (with pretty pictures) to help beginners like me make sure they're doing it right. There's only four steps. How can I go wrong?!

I gathered everything the instructions asked for and I was ready to begin.

The first step was to add 1.75 cups of water and watch the dirt mounds puff up.

Next I needed to pull apart the mesh around the mound so I could see the soil that's underneath.

After that it was planting time! I carefully placed three seeds of each herb in their own individual soil mounds and then lightly covered them.

And then I replaced the lid and even wrote on it which herb each one was so I wouldn't forget where I planted what.

My greenhouse is ready for indirect sunlight (I'm assuming that means shade?). Since my place is south facing, I won't be able to put this 'windowsill' greenhouse on my actual windowsill.

I'm extremely excited to see which one will sprout first! I know that catgrass takes barely any time at all so it'll probably sprout first. My guess for second is the dill. Which would you pick?