Summer flower gardening

A few years ago, we installed a garden window in our kitchen. I’m not much of a gardener; arthritic joints don’t do well with kneeling or bending or digging hard ground. But I’ve had windowsill herb gardens before.

It’s been a mixed bag, success-wise. I started with those Chia herb gardens, which are the plant equivalent of a Sea Monkey kit, and after some trepidation just bought seed packets and potting soil. I quickly discovered the quality of the soil made a huge difference. As did keeping my young plants away from others, since all it took was one rosemary bush from a nursery to infect everyone with mites. That was heartbreaking.

This year, I’ve had a successful dill, cilantro, parsley, sage and basil crop. The chives thrived after one false start, and I was amazed to see the rosemary seeds actually grow, since I’ve read those are really hard to start. My oregano, though, failed. I don’t know what happened, since it went gangbusters last time.

This year, I thought I’d also try some flowers. I got pink and blue forget-me-nots, pansies and nasturtiums (which are also edible). The blue forget-me-nots and the nasturtiums have been the most successful. The others haven’t flowered yet, but I’m hoping that will change once I repot them to something bigger.

I may get brave next year and try vegetables. The only problem is that I get very attached. What if I can’t eat them? I guess we shall see.

All text copyrighted by A.K. Whitney, and cannot be used without permission.