Green Ethics; Black Thumbs - Part 2

A few months back I wrote a post about my adventures in patio gardening... This is an update on all of the seedlings that I so hopefully sowed.



The clothespin tells me what is planted in each pot.
Helps me know what died before it sprouted.



I started seeing my seedlings from the second round of seeds almost a month after planting. They spent some time in my living room each day in June. (June in El Paso is the HOTTEST, DRIEST month ever!) You can see a few sticking up (the light spots on the dirt) and a leftover seedling from the previous round ( yellow pot with sad looking plant). I figured I had planted too deeply so I carefully exposed a lot of the tiny leaves from beneath the soil.

From the previous round of seeds, the one to survive, and even thrive, was my lovely Genovese Basil. Packed with spicy flavor and prolific! This plant has supplied me with basily-goodness for several months. Upon my discovery of Vegenaise (YUMMMY!), I began eating tomato-avocado-basil sandwiches weekly. This basil served me well during the hot hot months of summer.

Green!

Ahhh, morning coffee with the plants

I spent a few lovely, non-hot mornings sitting on the porch, soaking in my green patio. The basil is doing great, the lemon tree is photo-bombing from the left, and the basil seedlings are sprouting. I placed them close to the larger successful basil to give them something to aspire to. :-)

The aspiration technique seemed to be working. For several months in the heat of summer, these guys grew and grew.

This yellow pot basil was one of the ones that I had to uncover. It seemed so very grateful and as soon as it got some sun, it grew like crazy!

Here it is only a week later, nestled in with some cilantro. We know my history with cilantro but I never seem to learn. Never Give Up! I stacked the pots because my patio is small but it also served to help retain moisture and made it easier to move everything around to follow the sun.



The little sage plants never did come up. Sage definitely doesn't like the heat. They seemed to wilt beneath the surface. I think I'm still watering them in hopes of a random fall growth spurt.








So to recount - cilantro dies, sage doesn't like heat, Genovese Basil is the shit and grows well, and the lemon tree is hanging in there.

The sad news is that last week we had a wind storm that knocked over my table, breaking my pretty yellow pots in the process. I was able to transplant the basils and they are possibly rallying. I guess their condition should be listed as "stable". The big awesome basil has reached its peak and is now winding down. The base of the stems are browning but new little leaves are still appearing. I'm not sure how much longer that guy will be around.

I'm thinking of fall crops now... spinach, more basil, more sage, possibly cilantro (see, I'll never learn) Any other ideas?

Also, its that time of the year when the hummingbirds are starting to fly by again. I need to get my feeder out and attract these great little guys. I so miss the hummingbirds that were a part of every morning in the Sonoran Desert. Maybe what I need is an ocotillo? They love those.