Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Proof I Did Not Inherit a Green Thumb

Since my prior posting about all the hope and promise of beautiful lush herbs growing in little pots right in our townhouse patio, things have since taken a turn for the worse. I'm not even photo logging this sad news, it's that bad. JTK and I did enjoy fresh lemon thyme for a little over a month, garlic chives were eaten in perhaps 6 different meals, and the mint is hanging on to this day by only a bare thread. The chives have some sense of green left but consists primarily of whispy yellow strands of dearth. Have you ever seen lemon thyme impersonating "burnt to a crisp"?...hmm? No? Because that's what our particular plant is currently doing. The serrano peppers have also bitten the dust, copying the stature of the nearby thyme.


It's not like we did not care for these precious plants, either. They were watered, given light, shade, and love. This is why I know that the "green thumbs" my grandmother and arguably both parents bear somehow skipped a generation. Perhaps this is not even a genetic trait afterall. Even though I don't deny my lack of plant care-taking capablity (I'm sure there's a shorter word for this, if you know it, please tell me, as it describes me to a T); I still harbor some denial by blaming the fact that for all intents and purposes, I live right up against the sun. It doesn't help that we had one of the most blisteringly hot Mays on record either. It was still only May, people...and yep, you read correctly, 14 consecutive days at 100 degrees or greater, breaking the previous record of a mere 13 days. I even threatened JTK that I had once and for all had it with the heat and we should move.


So there you have it. I'm not great with plants, but I may have been successful further into the year if it weren't so darned HOT this time around.

Maybe I'll try my hand at some indoor basil...but I'll leave that for after this summer's vacation, for which I cannot wait! The cities Paris and Nice will soon witness an alarming consumption rate by JTK and me. When we go on a trip, we are sure to try as big of a variety of cuisine as possible at the local cafes, restaurants, and bistros. Stay tuned for some hopefully rousing food tales from our journey.

In the meantime, I hope my little mint plant will pull through. This ironically unseasonably cool June could do the trick.