Plant Watch 2013

I am just going to come out and say it: I can't keep plants alive. Not by malice or ill treatment or lack of caring or anything! I'm just no good at it. I've killed cacti. (Note the use of plural there. Yup. Multiple ones. This is a serious problem.)

 

So, Operation Leslie Growing Instead of Killing Plants has begun. Or, as I will call it: Plant Watch 2013. tee hee. I figure if we Southerners can have "Winter Watch", then a plant watch is certainly in order! Yes? Maybe? Please say yes :-)

 

I figured the best way to go this year was to start with herbs and then maybe mix in some vegetables. Because we don't have a lot of backyard space, I am going to do my outdoor gardening in containers. Better Homes & Gardens published this great book on container gardening. They make some great suggestions on what vegetables to plant: mainly above ground ones like lettuce and tomatoes and small special varieties of below ground vegetables like beets and carrots.

 

So, here's what I've got so far:

I purchased a spearmint and lavender plant and started basil, scallion and beet seeds.

 

The spearmint plant has almost doubled in height:

 

 

The lavender hasn't grown much but it seems to be doing okay. I've heard that keeping a lavender plant in a container is really difficult. It's on the list of plants I'll move outside in a few days.

 

 

While unpacking the house, I found a packet of basil that must be from college. I knew I wanted to plant basil so figured, what the heck, I'll give these guys a chance. And shock of shocks, they've sprouted! It's the little basil-that-could! It should be noted that they are growing super slowly. It's taken them three week to just get this far:

 

The scallions are trying their best. The packet said they would sprout from 7-14 days. I've got a few:

 

 

But the real success story so far are the beet sprouts. They are kicking hiney! I got some more planting pots yesterday and will thin them out and give them room to grow soon.

 

(the weird green glow is because the seedling pots are sitting in a green plastic bin to keep water off the table)

 

So that's the current state of Plant Watch 2013! I would really love any advice more seasoned gardeners have to share.

This weekend is the Birmingham Botanical Garden's annual plant sale. I'm really hoping to score some tarragon and maybe even some strawberries. Yum!