Sunday, June 8, 2008

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.

4 comments:

Aaron said...

What a bunch of bums! Sorry that you and Heather were sewing up alone... And you bought nice wine and cheese and everything!

If by "garden center" you mean Home Depot, then no surprise there. Peeps is dumb. I hope your plants get better. Were the bugs actually eating the plants?

Aaron

Katie said...

I so wanted to come! I really did!!

Ann said...

It's all right, Katie. I plan to punish you by making you help weave in ends tonight!

Katie said...

awww darn. you're killing me here!