No escape from the garden

Given the dead of winter here in northern New England, I thought I'd escape gardening.

But no.

For the last several weeks I've been trying to grow some herbs inside the house using the Chia process. You know: "Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!" And I'm doing a bad job and I'm feeling a bit guilty because I thought these Chia plants were a) foolproof and b) indestructible.

Some background:

After going into semi-retirement on June 6 my wife Jane for my birthday a couple of weeks later bought me a shopping bag full of vegetable and herb seeds so that I could create a garden during what she believed to be my boundless idle time.

I was suspicious at the time that she didn't want me to have boundless amounts of idle time -- the whole idle hands are the devil's playground thing.

It turned out OK. Not great, just OK.

I harvested plenty of herbs -- thyme, sweet basil and cilantro. And I harvested a bunch of tomatoes. I think I managed to produce one edible pepper out of six plants. My attempt at growing eggplant was a complete bust.

So when summer turned to fall and late fall finally killed off everything, I turned the ground over thinking that was that, my vain attempt at a green thumb would be over.

But no. As Michael Corleone said in "Godfather III": "Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in."

Jane for Christmas bought me the "Gourmet Chia Herb Garden" kit. My kit included sweet basil, cilantro, parsley and margoram, along with the growing pots and the special Chia potting soil.

I followed all the instructions for their patented growing system, and so far I'm underwhelmed. It's been several weeks and I'm not seeing, for example, the one to two inch leaves on the basil.

The real issue here is that I'm not as idle as my wife thinks I am. There's a lot to do when you're writing for four blogs and doing all the online social networking to market those blogs.

The inside garden requires more attention. At least with the garden out in the yard over the summer, I could depend on the occasional rain storm to water the plants. No such luck inside the house. It's all on me, and that usually means a certain death as far as plants are concerned.

Maybe I'll get a sprig or two of basil to use, but I'm not optimistic. I'll just be standing idly by hoping for the best.