Somewhere, deep inside of me, there’s a gardener. And perhaps somewhere even deeper, is a plant serial killer. An unintentional serial killer, but one nonetheless. When I was 16, had a family of cactuses—cactii?—that lived, huddled, on a small table near my bedroom window. I had all kinds of succulents I named with human names. I tended to them, and perhaps watered them a little too frequently, for a long time. Until one terrible winter killed them all because of the draftiness of my bedroom window.
Since then, I’ve had a spotty track record with keeping plants alive. I went to Home Depot a few years ago and told the person working there I wanted something impossible to kill. He pointed me towards a nondescript green plant with long leaves. Sure enough, though my cats gnaw at its points, it’s alive and mostly well, hanging out in my living room window. I cannot speak the same for the remains of the African violets beside it.
But then last year, I tried growing all kinds of herbs and food from seed. It took forever to plant them all, and in mid-winter, it was hard to keep them happy. Despite my doubts, seedlings cropped up and I was pleased I hadn’t screwed it up! Then I put their little greenhouse boxes outside when it warmed up outside. Then every single last one of them froze to death. Sigh.
This year, the wife and I wanted to plant maybe just a couple herbs—not from seed, but with already-started growth. I spent Mothers’ Day with my stepmom at a pépinière (a plant nursery, en Français) and I went crazy. I bought basil, lemon basil, chives, garlic chives, oregano, edible panties pansies, peppermint, cilantro and parsley. I brought them home and set them up outside in the sun. I watered them, took them inside when it was too cold, and then finally planted them in composted earth we got from our composting service. Then a week later, we went to the market and came home with two little strawberry plants and a cherry tomato plant. Just this weekend, we came back with a giant basil plant. We even planted our own garlic. Keep in mind that all of these plants are living out on my balcony, the second floor of a triplex in St-Henri, Montreal. I dutifully tend to my little plant family every day, monitoring their progress and for some, their lack thereof. I enjoy their company when I go outside to eat a popsicle, or barbecue, or annoy my across-the-way neighbours with my mere presence.
Anyway, today, our first strawberry turned red and I feel like a proud parent.
So far, the oregano and peppermint are going nuts. The cherry tomato plant has doubled in height in just a few weeks. The lemon basil is faring better than the other two basil plants I initially bought, and the giant basil from this weekend is doing great so far. The cilantro looks a little beat up, as do the pansies (only because they got too tall and fell over on their side).
edible pansies!
peppermint!
cherry tomatoes!
giant basil!
oregano gone wild!
