mostly I am doing this because I am greedy for strawberries.

I am a little behind in my posts. I was going to tell you what I did this weekend, and then I held off — partially because the Catnip saga rather pre-empted everything, and partially because I am not entirely convinced that all of the work I did won't up and die on me tomorrow, and won't I look like a fool then?

But they seem to be doing okay — the strawberry plant has some dead leaves in the middle but, then again, it came that way — everything is still reasonably green and not dead-looking. Fingers are still crossed, but maybe less emphatically so.

Onwards. I mentioned the strawberry plant.


Part of my haul from Sheridan Nurseries. (The other parts are some seeds, and the catnip.) It's an ever-bearing. They "guarantee" 25 strawberries per plant. I am not really sure what the last part means.


The strawberry plants, spread out on the table. The soil they used was not great, and some of the plants were already drying out and dying — so I removed the dead leaves, etc., as best I could and dumped it into the terracotta pot.

("Dumped." It took me the better part of forty-five minutes.)


As I said, it seems to be doing well. It doesn't look much different from this, and I think actually that it may have more leaves. I know that terracotta isn't always the best because it sucks water out, but strawberries need good drainage and I figure this way I have less of a chance of over-watering.

I also bought some herbs from the St Lawrence market:


Thyme, oregano, and basil. I didn't mean to organise them by height, but there you go.


I repotted them into a giant strawberry pot, a la Gayla Trail. I am also germinating some garlic chives in one of the "empty" holes. I mean to pick up some rosemary, some sage, and transplant the bunching onions once they've sprouted.

I know, I know — why didn't I put the strawberry plant into the strawberry pot? Well, I only had one. (I guess I could have bought another, but I wasn't sure if it was going to work out, and it wasn't terribly inexpensive. And I am not entirely sure about that green.) The reason is, I don't actually want to grow that many herbs, so the small holes in the strawberry pot are perfect for the amount I want. And this way I can haul the whole kit and caboodle back inside when it gets cold, instead of fiddling with a big planter or a series of little pots.

I started some seeds:


Which is really not terribly impressive. They haven't started sprouting yet (germination takes 8 to 12 days), so I have no idea if I was successful. Two of these are tomatoes (Amish paste), and two are bunching onions. I really only need one tomato plant, but I thought I'd hedge my bets a little.

And finally, remember the African violet? The one I was afraid I was going to kill within 24 hours? Well, three weeks later:


Not only is it thriving, but I think I may need to repot it so that it can continue taking over my kitchen.