Side Projects

 Herbs

Yes. A Bonsai tree is not the only thing I got for Christmas. I also received two silver larger pots that contained everything you need to start growing your own herbs year round.  Always a bit sceptical of these 'grow your own' pots followed the instructions and expected nothing to come of it. Whether anything would grow or not is another question but again I hoped I could manage these small herbs.

The herb pots I received were for Parsley and Chives and doing some minor research these should grow easily in my room.  I am now where I will be based for the next 6 months and have my Bonsai Tree and Growbox on one side of the room and my side projects on a windowsill which unfortunately does not get a great amount of sunlight. Despite this I have had some excellent results already from my herbs.  Initially i saw one or two sprouts in both pots after just only 6 days of planting the seeds and now each day sees huge improvements which can be seen from the photos below. This can be particularly seen in the Parsley.

Chives on 4th January 2015

Chives a day later on 5th January 2015

Parsley on 4th January 2015

Parsley a day later on 5th January 2015

As you can see there has been some excellent growth overall in just a few weeks. Both lots of seeds were planted initially on Christmas Day and I am hoping to see the continued growth over the next few weeks before eventually being able to harvest the herbs to use in cooking.

Cacti

This time last year I was in a similar but different position. I had not got any for Christmas I had got some money that I decided to go out and spend on a three cacti. All different species and of different shapes and sizes. A year later and I could not have guessed what would have happened.  It is important to note I am not sure what each type is so if anyone knows, please leave a comment with any information on growing conditions etc. Results for the three cacti I have have been mixed. With one flourishing, one dieing and one seemingly staying exactly the same.

The dead one. Not quite sure what happened :(

The non-changer. This is exactly how it looked last year.

The lively one. The whole top section is completely new growth and has nearly doubled in height the overall size of the Cactus.

So these are the side projects I have going on at this time. I am planning to use the pot of the dead cactus for some other seeds/cuttings from whatever grows from the growbox. We will see. Stay tuned for further updates on the Bonsai Tree, Grow Box which now has a homemade lighting frame and everything else!!