Fancy Book Learnin'

I've been feeling sick-ish since Monday and last night I finally succumbed to a head cold. I tried to convince myself that it was just allergies, but it was not to be. I'm very blessed and Greg took the day off of work to take care of me and to look after Jonas. I'm feeling better already, maybe it's the dayquil or maybe it's the gallons of fresh orange/carrot juice Greg has been making for me. Bless his heart, he loves that juicer.
So in lieu of actual work I spent the day reading gardening books from the library. I'm really into herbs lately. I have a large plot reserved for herbs this year, as opposed to the small plot and containers I've been keeping them in. I'm also going to convert the strawberry pot -a large terracotta deal with a bunch of side holes- into an herb pot, I just think it'd be cooler with all sorts of things coming out of the holes instead strawberry after strawberry. And now for something completely -ok slightly- different. Lavender is a plant I would love to have more of. I have one that I planted last year, it's still rather small, probably because I don't water it often enough. I read today about propagating different herbs from cuttings. I'm so excited to try it out. Especially on the lavender. I would love to have little sachets of lavender flowers in our dresser, and lavender linen spray for bedding and such. How lovely. Also the plant attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. Not that we need any more hummingbirds. There's a second hummingbird nest in the purple tree. What fun. But I digress. The book is called, A Handful of Herbs by Barbara Segall, Louise Pickford and Rose Hammick. The pictures in the book are very inspiring. Though one strange thing about the book is the amount of herb descriptions containing the caution: avoid when pregnant. Parsley for instance, who knew? Probably Siobhan. P.S. I've decided to keep the rosemary in it's container for now. Those things can go kind of crazy when given the run of the land. And speaking of rosemary, there's a really awesome rosemary bonsai at the garden center. I'm going to try and start my own bonsai from a cutting. Wouldn't that be adorable?
And now for something completely different, for real this time. Potatoes. I read in a separate book, that you can use unfinished compost or mulch instead of soil to hill up potatoes. This changes everything! I hate piling soil onto potatoes because 1: it erodes away so quickly (and yes you can shore it up with a tire, but sorry I don't have any spare tires around and have yet to expend energy on an alternative). and 2: the soil has to be bought. I hate buying soil. Paying for what is, essentially, fancy dirt, doesn't thrill me. (this is also part of why I stopped buying manure, money for poo, are you kidding?) I'm pretty sure it's too late for potatoes here, and I don't have ground available for them anyway so...next year. If you are interested in growing potatoes you can buy seed potatoes from many sources, Seed Saver's Exchange has lots of cool ones. Or if you're looking for a cheaper alternative just buy the type of potatoes you like at the supermarket. Some may have been treated with a chemical to retard their growth, but it will not inhibit them entirely, so plant 'em, and save some of their harvest for next year's chemical-free seed potatoes.

Couldn't resist. That's all I can think of for now. Take care guys.