Landscaping and Out of Control Catnip

May 23rd, Tuesday-People in LA really like their landscaping. On every single day, and I mean, EVERY SINGLE DAY, you can hear someone using a lawnmower, hedgetrimmer, weedwacker, or, my most hated modern landscaping invention, the leaf blower. And when I write "hear," I mean you can't hear anything else. And the gas emissions from these things are not only bad for the environment, they're also unbelievably stinky. So, even though it's too hot to close the windows, we have to if somebody is using the leafblower to gather up the 2 leaves that have fallen on the ground. Where I grew up, people mowed their lawns on Saturdays and since I lived in a place that had an actual winter, left it mostly dormant for a good 4 months of the year. Maybe it's the LA weather, it's makes plants grow like crazy so they have to be kept in check more often. For instance, here's my catnip.

I can't kill this stuff and believe me, I've tried. I keep plucking off the leaves and throwing them to the various neighborhood cats, who love the nip so much I feel like their drug dealer. (One of the cats actually knocked the planter down. That's how much she wanted it. Addiction is ugly, people.) I've neglected this to the point of not watering it for weeks and it keeps on flourishing. In fact, it's so happy it's blooming. I think it may need a bigger pot soon. I was hoping this plant would die since I can't really cook with it, but instead my cilantro died.

I had noticed that the cilantro looked a little limp, like it wasn't getting enough water. But I was watering it plenty. I was just going to make a bowl of salsa with some lovely tomatoes from the store when I looked at this plant and saw a very large colony of aphids. I was so oogged out. I removed them by hand (Oh, yuck, you do not want to know.) when I could see them and then sprayed them with a homemade non-poisonous aphid killer. It was too late though, it went brown and died. Sniff.

The mint simply refuses to die, much like the catnip. At least I can cook with this. I've made many mint meatballs with this plant and will make some nice mint syrup next week for tea, but other than that I don't think I'm going to make a dent in this. It's already growing little mint shoots on the bottom. I'm a little afraid that aphids will attack this one next, so I sprayed it with a food/vegetable spray. I hope I got it in time. Let's hope it's stronger than the cilantro.

This is my basil. When I first got it, I was afraid it was going to die. A good bit of it simply went brown and never came back. But now that the sun has been beating down on it and I've been watering it a lot less it seems to be thriving. Go figure. This I use in cool mozzarella salads and in tomato sauces. I can't seem to get rid of the leaves fast enough.

BTW, all of these herbs (plus a rosemary plant that boringly, seems impervious to my neglect) were brought to me courtesy of Maurissa Afanador, who also supplied the pots and planter. Yay, Mo!