We’ve suffered a bit of a setback in our herb gardening. Some of the plants got sick! Phil googled it after he saw some sort of insect on the leaves, and he says it was probably a Greenhouse whitefly. We’ve been treating the plants with neem oil for two weeks now. They’ve been better (I think), but I hope we get over this snag unscathed.

I’ve potted the basil, dill, Thai basil, chive, mint and cilantro, and bought a new sage plant because the old one died. This year I gave every herb their own pot because mixed cultivation can be difficult. For example, I pot parsley, chive, and dill in one flower box last year, and the parsley kind of overwhelmed the other two herbs until they died in the end. I did put basil and rosemary together in a huge pot, because that has worked out fantastic so far.

There are still some plants in my greenhouse. I’ll have to find a pot for the marjoram and chamomile soon because they grow so fast! There are also two fenugreek seedlings. I’ve tried growing flowers, with very mixed results to be honest. The petunia germinated, but none of the others.

• 

• 

On the bright side, I carried out two projects I’ve thought about for a while. I bought a clematis last year that died pretty quickly. This year, I wanted to plan it through better. I bought a scarlet clematis and this sort of half amphora that’s supposed to protect the sensitive plant base from the sun. On the other side, I grew sweet peas in hanging pots. I hope both will grow along the cat net that we put around the roof terrace. I imagine it will look so great once they bloom and flowers will be all around us when we sit outside in the summer!