New idea for old jars

I grow some herbs in containers on my back porch, but it would be very convenient to keep some in the kitchen.  Some need to be replanted after they are zapped by winter freezes or fried by our summer heat.

The problem is,  my cat is an indiscriminate eater of houseplants, and I want indoor herbs for human consumption. I needed to find ideas to help me keep them out of reach of my curious kitty.  The internet seemed the natural place to look for catproof indoor gardening methods.

I found this idea posted by Tammy at CraftAwl.com (Complete with instructions):

It's a floating herb garden!

I've totally got to try this. 

I'm thinking I might use those water-absorbent polymer crystals instead of just filling the jars with water. I think they'd be more attractive than soil, and probably more convenient, since I'm pretty terrible at remembering to water things.  I haven't found any information on whether those are safe to use for culinary plants, though.

Of Pecans, Allergies, Alligators and Groundhogs.

Whether we watch groundhogs, or we just feel it in our bones, we all have our ways of deciding when Spring is here.  (By the way, Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow this year.)

Since moving to this area, I have noticed that my allergies always pick  up when a new season arrives.  My nose is itchin', so I guess that means it agrees with old Phil the groundhog.

A year or two ago, someone told me to watch the native pecan trees to see when we were past all danger of winter freezes.  Trees seem to take seriously the Entish motto "Don't be hasty," however. They still have yet to leaf out in my neck of the woods.

If you are looking for another indicator, maybe one from the slightly more hasty animal kingdom,  there is a post over at the Lazy Gardener on the habits of alligators and what this means for gardeners.  Basically, when the alligators get hungry, spring is here.  Big Al, the 1,000 pound 'gator living in Gator Country near Beaumont is hungry, and he has a record for 100% accuracy.



As it seems unreasonable to argue with a hungry 1,000 pound animal with sharp teeth,  I suppose I'd better start planting.