Home Gardening

Inspired by the RHS book Growing Crops in Pots, my wife has begun a campaign to grow some herbs and vegetables at the house. The first objective was to get some indoor herbs. Our kitchen windowsill gets a bit of sunshine in the afternoon (on sunny days, which doesn't often happen here in Yorkshire) and is close enough to the cooking area so we won't forget to use them.

Chives flanking the thyme and parsley

Outside, other vegetables have been called to duty. J's school had him start a small pot of carrots; L's school gave her a beginning bean stalk. L and Mommy transferred both to a new and larger pot where they can be all that they can be.

Bean plant (tied to a pole) with carrots on the side

L, happy in her work

We also bought some seeds and plants from Harlow Carr Garden, including a garlic plant.

Garlic!

L chose that, though her inspiration was not for the flavor, it was for the protection. You may think she is worried about vampires, but in fact she wants to keep the zombies away. In Plants vs. Zombies (a game our whole family is addicted to--surprising, isn't it?) one of the plants for fighting zombies is garlic. The zombie takes one bite, goes "blech!", and then retreats to another row.

Cone Head Zombie doesn't like garlic!

As a side note, in the ahistorical and afactual The Protocols of the Spinsters of Wicca, garlic can be used by witches as "wolf's train." Unlike wolf's bane, which gets rid of werewolves, wolf's train enables users to corner a werewolf and/or punish it when behaves badly. We here at the Zombie Parent's Guide do not endorse or recommend such practices.

Recently added to the collection is our egg head, who seems to have watercress on the brain. It's not a disease, but a fun way to grow some crops in an unusual way.

Egg sans a bit of shell and all the insides...

...cotton and seeds inside...

A few day's later, a head of hair!

My wife got the idea from a display at Harlow Carr Garden (more on that in a later post). The egg is pretty cute as long as you have tactical support for the egg. So get out those Easter egg supplies you've put away and get cracking on your own little watercress chia pet!