Parsley in a Tea Kettle

Deb did a kitchen clean out and she offered me some stuff she no longer uses, including this cute tea kettle. It’s too nice to waste but I need a kettle like I need more egg cups. Being currently obsessed with all things gardening, my mind jumped to what a sweet little planter this would make. The parsley I gave Deb on her last visit to my garden has been devoured by possums so I offered to stuff the kettle full of fresh parsley and return it to her where it might remain safe on her window sill. She seemed pretty chuffed with the idea so today I dug more parsley from around my chilli, sage and basil plants (it’s really everywhere) and potted it. I did NOT drill holes in the bottom and I know you’re not supposed to put soil and plants in a pot with no drainage, but that’s exactly the situation with a large stainless steel bowl full of small plants that sits on an end table in my lounge room and it’s been happy and healthy for a year now so I think this kettle will do just fine for the parsley. Hopefully in the month before Deb comes over for lunch when she’ll collect the planter, the parsley will have recovered and fleshed out.

I also decided it was time to try to salvage my kale. On the 16^th of August I sowed some seeds that I’d collected at the organic gardening course. They sprouted without a hitch and then have, if anything, shrunk (photo on left). The Brussels sprouts sowed at the same time are growing really well (on right). I transplanted the kale into the shady ginger bed. They can’t do any worse. If they fail there, I’ll wait until next year and try again in autumn which is when they really should be planted.

And I sowed some seeds:

1. All my snake bean seeds (turns out I only harvested 10 at the organic gardening course) are at the back of the middle bed along my western fence line (good week according to the lunar calendar).
2. Snow peas at the back of the lower western-fence bed (good week according to the lunar calendar).
3. Peas at the back of the bed at the foot of the stairs (good week according to the lunar calendar).
4. Basil in the pot that the kale came out of. Around the outside I sowed seeds from a packet. In the middle I put some dead flower heads (and not so dead) after trying to find seeds in the silly things and giving up. I clearly need to work on my basil seed harvesting technique.
5. Chilli seeds from one of our favourite and most prolific producing red chilli plants. I put those around the base of the azalea we have in a pot. Hopefully I’ll get a few; one to put in a pot on the kitchen windowsill, a couple to scatter in garden beds and a couple to give away.