Fridgetop Herb Garden

    My husband isn't a huge fan of my plants. However, because he loves me, we have agreed that I can have plants as long as they don't get in the way. This is actually a fantastic deal for me because I am one of the klutziest people in the world and if a plant ever got in my way it would be toast. So, this deal is pretty much a win-win but I win more.

    When I first set up my apartment I kept this in mind and I realized I had a ton of free real-estate on the top of my refrigerator. I also have a grow lamp that I got for Christmas last year. So, even though it isn't a super sunny spot in my home was the perfect spot for plants. I originally kept my succulents and propogations up there but succulents are very slow to grow and they don't have a whole lot of use other than to look cool.

    Something else I realized I miss as I cook  more without access to a garden is how much I miss fresh herbs versus dried and store bought. As I was sitting thinking about these two things, I had one of my best ideas to date. Herb garden... on top of the fridge! I immediately started to research which herbs do best indoors and which ones need more or less water and even Which ones can grow in the same pot.

    On top of all of that research I also started planning for when I do have a real garden and as I am collecting my plants I am making sure I only buy perennials also herbs that will do ok in my zone. This way by the time I have a house I can split all of my herbs and keep some inside for winter-and they just smell good- and plant the larger part of the plant.

    My final rough list for the herbs I wanted to end up with was this: Basil, rosemary, thyme, lavender, parsley, and oregano. I also love to propogate so I thought it might be fun to see what I can do with some veggies. I soon found a small basil plant at the farmers market and I was so excited to get going that the next day I bought a sad little rosemary plant from the produce section at Walmart. I soon repotted both in little painted teracotta pots I had laying around and they are both looking very happy.

    Recently I made a huge batch of potato soup and I topped it with green onion. After I cut them up I noticed the little stubs had roots hanging off the end. So, out of curiosity mostly, I stuck them in water. I didn't expect anything to happen and the next day I left to go be a counselor at a Bible camp. To my surprise, when I came home the onions were huge! Well, not huge, but they had stuff sticking out of the top. Now, they continue to grow bigger and bigger but I'm not sure what to do with them. 

    I have 3 green onions so one I am going to leave in water to see how big it gets, one I am going to chop up and eat, and the third I am going to pot and see what happens. I am hoping somehow this will give me unlimited green onion but at the same time they aren't that expensive so maybe I just keep buying them and regrowing them once for fun.

    After I saw the shocking success of the green onions I wondered what would happen if I chopped up a big yellow onion and stuck the bottom in water. It does have roots hanging off of the bottom after all. I also know that you can put the bottom a head of lettuce in water and it will regrow. Eventually I do want to try propogating a head of lettuce but right now I'm hoping to get a few leaves out of this onion but so far all I'm getting is more roots.

    Today I decided the onion tangent was done and I should focus back on the herbs. The garden section in Walmart is closed now, either because of construction or the season I have no idea, so I tried Menards. To my dismay the selection of plants there was extremely sparse. There were only decorative plants and even those looked pretty sad. As I was about to give up my search I walked by a shelf of seeds. I was hesitant because it will be a long time before I can actually use these herbs if I grow them from seed but I decided I do not care. 

    I ended up buying a packet of lavender and another of oregano. I took a couple paper towels and soaked them in water. I then put the seeds in separate towels and then into their own labeled plastic baggies to let them sprout. Now I know this is not usually how you grow herbs so don't tell me I'm doing it wrong in the comments. Because I bought seed packets there are far too many seeds for just one little pot so the seeds in the baggies are an experiment. I also followed the directions on the back of the seed packets and put each in their own pot to germinate. 

*the R2-D2 in the backround is a popcorn maker, the top of my fridge isn't quite 100% dedicated to plants yet

    Once my lavender and oregano sprout all I need is thyme. I currently have a decently sized shaker of thyme so I am not in a huge rush to get that one. Thyme is also not technically a perennial according to the back of the seed packet I was about to buy so I am not in extreme need to add that to my collection. However, I am starting to think about growing mint. I have had mint in the past but it has never done well for one reason or the other but I am determined to figure it out. Everything I read says it is one of the easiest herbs to grow indoors so that is encouraging me even more to try it out. We'll see what happens. 

    Comment below if you want updates or if you have any ideas of what to add or change in my fridgetop herb garden. Thank you!