Spring 2012 Herb Update

Here at our new house we have a shed, so I was able to store my herbs in there rather than in the house this past winter.  Unfortunately, I didn't remember to have Hubby put them in the shed until sometime in December.  So they got snowed on several times, and were encased in ice for a while.  Then after they were safely stowed in the shed, I forgot to water them for the rest of the winter!

Once the weather warmed up enough to melt most of the snow, I asked Hubby to get them out again.  I really wasn't sure if they had survived.  It still took me a few more weeks before I was able to get out there and trim all the dead stuff off.  Here they are before the trim.  They look pretty dismal, don't they?

As I was cutting the sage I discovered that it, at least still had a tiny bit of life in it!  Thankfully I still have plenty of dried sage leaves in my kitchen, so I'll be able to let it grow uninterrupted for most of the summer.

However, I didn't find anything living on the mint.  Time will tell if it comes back.  I honestly won't mind having to replace it though.  It's never been as fragrant as I'd like, so I'm sure I can find another variety that I like better.

Sunshine and Roses

Well, not really roses, but it sounded like a nice title for a really nice day. I wanted to write this post a few days ago, but life with fussy 6 and half week old means I rarely get to finish what I start on the same day. Including this blog post!

It was a such I nice day that I really wanted to get outside, plus my herbs desperately needed a spring pruning. So I asked Zack if he would put this little outside bed-thing on the porch for me, and I put Zana in it while I worked on the herbs.
It's a really neat thing as one side acts as a shade against the sun, and the other has a screen to keep the bugs out.
As you can see the poor sage and mint were not looking their best. Not only were they seriously overgrown, but also had gotten a light freeze on them a few times since they had been put back outside a month ago.
There, much better! Now they look ready for some healthy summer growth. I can't wait to harvest some sage again. I use quite a bit for my cooking, and actually had to buy some recently.
Guinivere also wanted to come out, but alas she's been an in-door cat since we moved here, and certain neighborhood cats have their territories all staked out. One such cat, we call him Bobtail, is the meanest one of the lot. He won a territorial fight against our neighbor's cat, and now she has to be careful in her own yard! Sorry Guiny, but you're better off staying in the house.
Beauty shoot. It felt so good to be outside again! I even got out the jogger and took Zana for a walk later in the afternoon. The rest of this week it's been super windy and I haven't been able to get out again.
Hopefully now that I'm getting used to being a mommy I'll be able to blog more often. Here's hoping!

Bug problems

After arriving home from the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival earlier this week I discovered that my sage had an insect problem. When Zack and I went shopping on Wednesday I looked for an indoor insecticide that was not harmful to pets and found nothing. (The sage and mint are in the house for the winter)

So on Thursday I started searching the web for a homemade insecticide, and I found this very helpful website on making all kinds of different ones. However, since I still didn't know exactly what kind of bug I was dealing with I wasn't sure what kind to use, and decided on the alcohol spray. It seemed to work pretty well, but I still wasn't satisfied that it was the right approach.

So on Friday I did some more research and discovered the insects in question are spider mites. The article says they are very resistant to insecticides, so now I'm wondering if my alcohol spray might not work in the long run. What do you think? I would greatly appreciate any advice or helpful hints. :-)

Leave a comment below if you can think of something. And thanks already!!!

Harvesting the Mint

Well, I didn't harvest my mint "tomorrow", but I did the day after! :-P This time I remembered to take a before picture:

And of course, an "after" one as well.

It sure looks like a lot on the plate!

All washed and ready to ready to be put together.

I actually had enough to make a 3rd smaller bunch, but that one had to hang on the next shelf door over. It sure is going to be interesting how much dried mint I end up with after all is said and done.

I can't wait to make mint tea with my very own mint! :-D

Harvesting Sage

I just finally remembered to harvest my sage today before it freezes. It's so fun growing herbs! Tomorrow I'm going to harvest my mint. Next year I hope to add some more to my collection. Though I suppose it will kind of depend on how well the sage and mint do this winter. You see it gets way too cold here to leave them outside, which means finding somewhere to store them in our already crowded laundry room.


Here's what the sage looked like after I was done. I only took the larger and some of the medium sized leaves. It looks nice and neat now, too bad all that new growth is going to freeze off. :-(

In other news, I've been fighting a nasty flu bug the last few days. That would explain my punctuated sentences. The bug itself seems to be going away finally, but not before majorly aggravating my asthma. It's been steadily getting worse all year, and this must have been the breaking point. The worst part about it is that I can't go to a wonderful woman's conference with some of the the ladies in my church. We were supposed to leave tomorrow, and what with my horrible cough, and nearly out of control asthma, I can't go.