Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

 I have a garden, and I've very excited about it. Maybe it's not a real garden, but I think that plants in pots still count for something.

Saturday I had gone up to see mom, and we ended up buying plants. One of mom's tomato plants had died, and she wanted to replace it. My two hanging plants had died in that last cold snap, and I've been meaning to replace the flowers. And I know that the cold snap was back way back around February, but it honestly  hasn't seemed that long ago. Then last week I got a notice from the complex office stating that the lease regulates patios to be kept neat and free of trash. I don't think that they meant dead plants, and the office manager assured me that the notice went to everyone and wasn't meant for me specifically. But I thought that since we were at the nursery for mom, I should probably get the replacement plants.

I picked out some pretty begonia for the one pot, and pansies for the other. When we got into the vegetable section, though, I put the flowers back. Because herbs are almost as pretty, and ever so much more fun and practical.

So now I have a tomato plant. It's a Sweet and Neat Cherry tomato, and it's been bred to grow only 12" tall and then the vines cascade downward. I think it will work out great in the hanging basket.

I also bought some mint plants. I love fresh mint in my tea, especially in iced tea. Then I was thinking that it would also be nice to learn how to make mint juleps or mojitos. First, though, I need to learn how to harvest without killing the plants.

Originally I only meant to replace the plants in the two planters I had gotten for Christmas. But I couldn't resist the sweet basil, so mom gave me an old planter she had in her shed. I'm looking forward to making fresh pesto.

I bought the plants Saturday, so Sunday I needed to transplant them into my planters. While I was at it, I repotted two of my violets and started a new cutting.

And to think that I have always been the brown-thumbed member of my family of gardeners. Now I've got the requisite dirt under my fingernails!