It has become quite clear that everyone who lives here has things they do to stay busy. Obviously, compound living, and living in a place with somewhat restricted movement/possible safety issues has its cons. That said, a lot of people read (I have already been to the first meeting of the book club, where (mostly) women come together and share a book they've read and then pass it on), sounds like quite a few sew/knit/cross-stitch/quilt, a few keep busy in the kicthen (we've already had lemon cake, sprouts, sun-dried tomatoes and tortillas dropped past our door, just because someone made them and wanted to share) and plenty engage in organized and casual sports.
But, another little something that it seems just about everyone does to some extent is garden. You should see some of the gardens! I was visiting at one house on Friday afternoon, and the patio, which structurally is exactly like ours, is like a little jungle haven, because it is surrounded by vines and bushes and tress and flowers and plants. They're created a wall of plants for privacy, and have several plants that they use in their kitchen (basil, lettuce, thyme, pineapples, lemon grass and probably more!).
It's certainly inspiring, and as they say, "It just gives you something to do!"
I've never been a gardener though- and as a few of my former roommates, especially, know, I have a tendency to well, I don't want to say kill plants, because it is certainly not my intention, but, maybe slowly, unintentionally torture them to death? I have had a few plants that I have tried SO SO SO SO SO hard to keep alive, and basically, I can't think of any that have made it in my care. DB saved a couple. GG had some work cut out for her with her plants that we "took care of" for the year we lived in her apartment. Many a plant just plain didn't make it. I think the only plant that ever did ok for an extended period in my care is one plant that EZ (initials, not a comment on character) gifted me during my first year working with her at ISR. That one hardy little plant was still alive when I left ISR, and it was actually flourishing. It desperately needed a larger pot, so hopefully someone has taken care of that.
So, when the colleague of the jungle-haven patio started pulling plants out of her garden that day when I was over, and saying, "Here, plant this, and plant this!" I didn't really know what to think. Eek, really? Me? Garden?
Well, today I went out there, and decided that I should at least stick these guys in the ground, and give 'em a chance.
Now, let's just look around- we do have two nice plants in our area already- this pretty pink flowered thing grows on the fence that surrounds our "backyard", and I think is expected to someday create that wall of privacy as it is woven through the fence.
And this one grows on one corner of the patio. It's pretty, but I think that is its only purpose (a fine purpose for a plant, at that!)
As you can see in the above picture though, we have these drains in our garden. We have three of them! So it's not very pretty, and I'm not sure how it will affect other gardening we might want to do someday... we'll see.
So anyway... here are the plants I planted:
The Lemon Grass
The Cilantro (Coriander) This one didn't come from someone else's garden- I chopped the tops off and stuck it in the ground after bring it home from the market. It had a whole root system on the bottom, so I'm hoping, maybe...
And these three little purple guys... I don't know what their names are, but the jungle-haven colleague says that they are unstoppable, and that she is constantly having to cut them back. Basically, there are a couple of plants that she just keeps saying, "You can't go wrong with" here, and this is supposed to be one of em.
I watered them well, and will continue to do so... pray for the best!
I have also gotten my hands on some pots, and am awaiting a trip to the garden center on Thursday when I might be able to get something akin to potting soil. Then I will plant basil and lettuce and maybe baby spinach in pots and try my hand at "potted gardening" as well. It sure would be cool if it all worked out, and I was able to get things to grow. It would cut down on the grocery bill!
Check this out! On the left we have the Mr. Basil when I planted him. On the right we have Mr. Basil before dinner tonight. See how much he's grown?!? Amazing huh? Post dinner (lasagna for Joel, cannelloni for me- yeah, it tasted good, but my tummy...ooh...) he's missing a few leaves, but not height! Whoohoo! I didn't kill him!
