Grateful: Gifts that keep on giving

My name may be ‘Gardner’ but I have a black thumb. Paul is definitely the true gardener of our family, by name and  by nature. He takes care of our very large yard and does a lovely job of it too. However, I have always wanted to grow my own produce. Especially herbs. I detest having to pay huge sums of money for limp, lifeless and bland herbs at the supermarket, half of which I end up throwing away because I only needed a little bit.

For my birthday in November last year my friends gave me a lovely selection of seedlings, as well as some quite gorgeous planter labels. Entrusted with these baby growths of sage, oregano, thyme, basil, parsley and rosemary, I asked one of my blogging buddies for some advice on how to plant…. and was too impatient to wait for her reply… which took about seven minutes. You see how I might get myself into some black thumb situations? Fools rush in. Or something. However, despite not quite following Erin’s excellent advice I did manage to successfully plant my herbs. And two months later they are STILL ALIVE! In fact, you could almost say that they’re thriving.

Perhaps it was the gardening gene in Pebble that saved us. She was right there helping me plant the seedlings – I can only imagine that I have her to thank for their success.

This was such a lovely experience for both Pebble and I. She really enjoyed digging and watering, and smelling each plant. She carefully pushed in the planter labels and stood back proudly to survey her work. She helps me water them most days, either with her little watering can, or helping hold my giant one. We look at how much they’ve grown and pick a few leaves for dinner. I get such satisfaction from popping outside to pick a few fresh leaves for our meals. The herbs have been the perfect partner for another one of my birthday gifts – Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals cookbook. That man loves to cook with fresh herbs, which used to make meals almost too expensive to bother. Quite often I would skip the herbs, or use dried instead. Fresh herbs add SO much amazing flavour, especially home grown, freshly picked herbs.

Simple herb bread made with pita bread, olive oil, garlic, sage, basil and thyme

One month on, our little baby herbs were still growing nicely Two months on and thriving!

Today I’m grateful for wonderful friends and their gift that keeps on giving. What are you grateful for?

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