Okay, so I wanted to talk about this little project I took on, messing around with the whole Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens idea. It wasn’t some big master plan, you know, just something I sort of fell into.
I was rummaging through some old boxes, the kind you keep meaning to sort out but never do. Found this thin, kinda worn-out booklet. Betty Crocker’s Kitchen Gardens. Looked pretty old-school. Had these simple drawings and straightforward instructions. Seemed like something anyone could try, even me with my not-so-green thumb.
Getting Started
So, I thought, why not? I’ve got a windowsill that gets decent sun. The booklet talked about herbs mostly, things you could snip off and use right in the kitchen. That sounded pretty useful. It suggested things like:
- Parsley
- Chives
- Mint
- Maybe some small radishes if you had a slightly bigger pot.
I decided to keep it simple. Went down to the local garden shop. Felt a bit awkward asking for just a few small pots and seed packets. Grabbed some potting soil, parsley seeds, and chive seeds. The mint, I decided against, heard that stuff can take over everything.
The Actual Doing Part
Got home, spread some newspaper on the kitchen counter – didn’t want soil everywhere. Filled the pots like the little booklet showed. Then came the seeds. Tiny little things. Poked them into the soil. Watered them gently. Felt kinda hopeful, like I was doing something productive, even if it was just playing in the dirt.
Placed them on the sunny windowsill. And then, the waiting game started. Honestly, for the first week or so, nothing happened. Just pots of dirt. I kept watering them, following the instructions, making sure they weren’t too dry or too soggy. Started to wonder if I’d messed it up, maybe bought old seeds or something.
But then! I saw these tiny little green specks pushing through the soil in the chive pot. It was actually working! A few days later, the parsley started showing up too, though it seemed a bit slower, more cautious.
How It Turned Out
The chives really took off. Grew into these nice little green spikes. The parsley was slower, but it got there eventually, forming proper little leaves. It wasn’t like a massive harvest or anything, don’t get me wrong. Just a couple of small pots growing on the sill.
But you know what? It felt pretty great. Snipping off some fresh chives to mix into scrambled eggs, or grabbing a few sprigs of parsley for a soup. Tasted way better than the dried stuff. It was simple, didn’t cost much, and honestly, just watching them grow was kind of relaxing.
So yeah, that Betty Crocker kitchen garden thing? It was a nice little experiment. Nothing fancy, just good, old-fashioned advice that actually worked. Made me feel a bit more connected to my food, even in a small way. Definitely worth trying if you stumble across one of those old guides.
