While I was gone from the blog...

...I planted an herb garden.

At the local K-Mart I bought a Kentucky whisky barrel, or actually half of one, to plant things in.

Sounds easy but the barrels are very big and very dirty. And falling apart. This one was from the Maker's Mark Distillery and was dated March 1996. As for the "whisky" vs. "whiskey" spelling debate click here for some background information from Wiki.

The inside is burned until it's like charcoal, the staves are all loose and the rings are heavily rusted. It does have a nice aroma of Bourbon whisky though.

After I got it home I filled it with a huge amount of dirt and planted, counter-clockwise fron the front center: Greek Oregano, Serrano Pepper (medium hot), Thyme, Genovese Sweet Basil, Cilantro and Giant Marconi Pepper (not hot). After watering the plants for a week the moisture made the barrel staves swell up and it is now water-tight and much more stable.

The picture is three weeks later and everything has doubled in size. The peppers are in bloom and there are several baby peppers growing already. Salsa, anyone?