Shop Your Shelves

Months ago, Valine gave me a small begonia when I came to visit.  I have managed to keep it alive on my kitchen windowsill, which is the only room in the house that lets in enough light to grow plants.  I has been getting quite long and dangly, and was still in the original plastic wrapped pot.  In addition, I picked up a several small herb plants at Wal Mart the other day and wanted to keep some of them indoors. Time to spruce things up!  

I have been in a purge and donate regime at the house, so I really didn't want to purchase new pots, but I did look while at Wal Mart and Joann's. Since I didn't find anything that I really liked, I came home and decided to shop my shelves. I'd almost forgotten about the small terrarium I purchased several years ago at Round Top. It was tucked away in one of the bedrooms with fake plants inside, but not being used in a very effective way, so it was time to bring it out again. I've never had much luck growing my herbs indoors, so I thought I would see if being in a terrarium might help. Terrariums capture the moisture and act like a mini greenhouse, so it was worth a try. 

The next challenge was finding something to pot the herbs in. Clean tin cans to the rescue! I poked holes in the bottom of the cans for drainage and transferred the plants into the cans. 

Using ordinary scotch tape to secure it, I wrapped a piece of burlap around each one. 

I was afraid that I might mix up which was oregano and which was thyme, (which isn't a big deal if you aren't actually going to use them for cooking), but becomes important when using them in a recipe. I wrapped a strip of chalkboard tape around and wrote the herb on it. (I've had the tape in my scrapbook stash for a while). 

Next up was the begonia. 

While shopping my shelves, I noticed an old teapot that had once belonged to my mother and my grandmother before that. 

The handle had been broken in several places and glued back together and the top was missing, but I always liked it nonetheless.  While there are no drainage holes, I'm hoping that the spout will provide a little bit of drainage and keep things from getting too moist.

I re-potted the plant and then gathered a few other things onto a metal tray and set them on the butcher block cart. 

Putting things onto the tray will make it easy to move if I need to use the top for cooking or baking preparation. 

Back in the late fall, all of my herbs suddenly died all at once. I had huge rosemary, thyme and oregano plants which were all well-established, as well as a potted Satsuma tree on a small patio by my storage building and one morning I discovered them all dead as can be. It was so weird, but I think that it coincided with the day my yard was sprayed with weed killer, and I think some of it must have been accidentally sprayed onto the herb patio. So, as soon as it warms up again (which I'm sure won't be long), I will plant the rest of the herbs outdoors. But, these will stay on my windowsill, with hopes of happy growing and cutting.