Urban Gardening

I was hoping to have some lovely pictures today of the sewing-up party: knitters helping each other out, finishing a charity afghan, maybe getting a little raucous. But... NO ONE SHOWED UP. Bums. Heather and I heroically sewed our little fingers to the bone, snacking on semi-fancy cheese and amazing cake, sipping a tasty riesling. We got surprisingly far, but didn't finish. That's okay; I'll try to get it done tomorrow. Thank you, Heather!

In other news, I took a look at my windowsill garden this morning.

I have cat grass, sweet basil, and mint. The plants have been a little droopy lately. In fact, the mint is looking downright ragged.

I looked more closely, and noticed that I have bugs!

My camera doesn't have a macro setting, so I pointed out the bug with a red arrow.

In fact, I have lots of bugs.

Perhaps that's why my plants are droopy!

So, following my brother's advice, I cut a blade of bug-infested grass and took it to the garden center in a plastic bag. I was expecting the nice employees to immediately recognize my bugs and direct me in the proper way to save my plants. I walked up to a group of four (4!) garden center employees and threw myself on their mercy. They, um, couldn't help me. They directed me to another guy, who I assumed had the knowledge. Actually, he walked over to the pesticides and started reading packages, glancing doubtfully at the bag from time to time. In the end, I noticed the pesticide that was labeled "for houseplants," and he agreed that that one was probably what I needed. Humph. So much for specialized knowledge!

So, I bought my houseplant pesticide, came home, and sprayed the plants down. I feel a little bad for killing the bugs--they're only doing what comes naturally, and they're not actually a threat to me--but I'm determined to successfully raise some damn houseplants.