Mary Mary Quite Contrary

[gemfyre]

I'm a pragmatic gardener. If I can't eat it/cook with it/use it as a herbal remedy, I generally won't bother growing it. I'm also in a rental so most of my plants are in pots so I can take them with me. My previous rental already had an awesome garden with a rose bed and all, the house I'm in now has some tatty lawn, a gum tree and a stunted looking hibiscus stuck in the corner.

View from my back step. This is my backyard. To the right is a shed and carport. To the left is a gum tree and stunted hibiscus. That blue thing beyond the Hills Hoist is my compost bin.

Lemongrass This is a recent purchase, just potted out this evening. Anyone know the best way to harvest it without killing the whole plant? Or is that impossible?

Aloe Vera This poor Aloe has been through so much. It was growing in a hanging basket at the old house and mostly dead, so I cut part out of it and put it in a tiny pot, where it greened up a bit. Then I put it in a larger pot so it was happier. Over Summer it went kinda brown again but since I've been tending it closely again it's bounced back. This is an unkillable plant.

Garlic Chives This recently flowered and set seed. I cut the seed heads off today and put them in the garden bed, if they grow, they grow. This one took a while to take off but is now growing great.

the First Basil For my birthday last year I got a pot with a cherry tomato in the middle and about 6 basil plants around it. I quickly separated them into a few pots and they promptly grew (and flowered). This pot actually had the tomato in the middle, but that's had it's Summer so I removed it. Should I continue to prune the flowers off? Whever I do they just grow back again within about a week.

Oregano and Marjoram The oregano has been going a bit mad and I had to give it a good hacking to make space for the marjoram, which was planted today. The last marjoram died over Christmas when it didn't get watered for 4 days, this one should do better.

More basil Purple and curly type. Also flowering madly.

The Last Basil More of the same. I wish nuts weren't so expensive, or I'd make a heap of pesto.

Rosemary This took forever to take off but now it's doing splendidly.

What! ANOTHER Basil? This basil is about 8 months older than the others and is also flowering like there's no tomorrow. It started off as such a little plant and now it's a small tree.

Mint I'm glad I have this in a pot or else it would take over the garden. It's getting cold again now so it's not looking as good as it could.

Kaffir Lime I had to stop myself plucking leaves off this to smell. I got this at the same time as the lemon. Anyone know if I can use the fruit in cooking? I know I can use the leaves.

Coriander Another one potted today. Hopefully this one gives me some leaves I can actually use.

Thyme & Savory These two are going crazy. Once I get my own house these will probably become ground covers.

Sage This goes to an ugly dead looking thing in Winter. In Summer it gives me profuse leaves.

Catnip Another one that dies off in the Winter. Pity the cats don't react to it at all.

Italian Parsley Another one just planted. My previous parsley is just flowering now and not producing any leaves.

Dill It still has some green bits so I hold some hope. Do you think it will come back? This is the third dill plant I've lost.

Rocket Finally I don't have to worry about my leafy greens going soggy in the fridge. Another of today's batch.