Container Gardening, Sans Green Thumb

At the  start of this new house endeavor, I had such high hopes for my plants. Being born from a long line of farmers, and having both mom and sis be the most amazing plant and vegetable gardeners; I thought that my genes would eventually kick in. Surprise, gardening isn't about genetics.

Gardening is more about science and will-power, if anything so esoteric. A few weeks back I planted a slew of herbs in a natural, water permeable planter-- you know the type, those brown coconut husk-looking things. Well, herbs need water. A container that immediately drains the water away after each watering is a waste. I dug out my half dead plants and went gave their lives a bit more thought. Adding  a plastic barrier to the bottom of the planter has helped to retain a bit more of the water, and some of the plants had to go into new containers. Check out these plastic beauties (painted black with matte spray paint)

This week I did a minimum of porch sitting and instead enlisted the help of one of my best friends in creating my mosaic transom. Traditionally Baltimore and Washington row houses feature two unexpected details a square skylight and a glass transom (many are stained glass). The glass has long since been replaced with wood and then painted and repainted on our house. I decided to use colored tiles to create a beautiful transom and also display our house number.

Remember the paper decal house number we've been displaying? It's gone.

The start of the mosaic project went well. A good friend came by to help me. We cleaned and scraped away the chipping pain and got rid of those classy decals.

Then used construction adhesive to affix the glass tile sheets to the wall. Instead of doing the real work of placing single tiles, the sheets made light work of the application. I'll paint the numbers using glass paint before I grout the whole thing next weekend. More photos to follow.

Don't my herbs look marginally alive??!!