My little corner of heaven...

those were the days...

...back when

One of the few regrets now that we live in a condo is that I don't have a garden. I miss digging in the soil, planting, watering and enjoying the fruits of my our labour. Those were idyllic summers where every evening and weekend would find the two of us in the back yard.

I don't think Peter misses toiling on his carefully manicured lawns, but I'll admit those times make my eyes misty as we sit on our little balcony and watch the gardeners as they chop up the badly seeded lawns with their gas lawn mowers and ignore the dead branches on the trees and bushes around our building.

Short of becoming one of those busy bodies that every building seems to have [and yes, our's is Velma, an elderly lady who attends the monthly strata council meetings with a long list of complaints, of which the gardeners' shortcomings are always noted] I decided to invest in a window box and a few pots and focus my energy on growing herbs.

So last weekend, I dragged poor Peter [who thought he'd finally put those visits to rest] to our local garden centre and scooped up a handful of potted herbs, a bag of soil and a few terra cotta pots. Well, those dozen little potted herbs cost me over $50! What used to be a 99-cent a pot purchase has now become big money! Not one of them was under $3.50. But I wanted my little herb garden and nothing was going to stop me!

We came home and I immediately set myself to repotting and planting. Two glorious hours! I'd forgotten how wonderful it felt to put my hands in soil [ok... yes, I wore gardening gloves, but still!].

From left to right: oregano, par-cel, tarragon, rosemary, cilantro, sweet basil and chives.
The little gnome figurine belonged to my grandmother and it sat on her windowsill guarding her potted herbs!

Mission accomplished, I sat down with a cuppa and admired my handiwork. That's when Peter informed me about one of the condo bylaws: no planters/window boxes attached to balcony railings. So I've moved the window box to the inside of the balcony, and I'm hoping since we're at the back of the building, no one will notice... or if they do, they won't report me. I'm on good terms with Velma and she has a soft spot for Peter!

Lavender in the sheep planter... two types of mint (English and orange)...
and the king of all herbs, dill! (I am Polish, after all!)

But I have my herbs! And they're growing by leaps and bounds! I'm eager to start snipping little branches of rosemary for the roast lamb I want to make next weekend, and chopping home-grown fresh chives for our Sunday brunch of scrambled eggs!

I don't need much room - I just need to satisfy that primal urge to bury my [gloved] hands into soil, nurture my plants and take pleasure in knowing that there's nothing more local than the herbs on my balcony - ready for the cutting! The pure joy of gardening is in the plants you grow.

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