At the beginning of my first pregnancy, someone gave me a cactus. The instructions were simple: Twice a month, I was to put an ice cube in the pot, on top of the soil. It would melt and provide all the water the little prickly plant needed.
Simple enough, right?
I killed it. Two weeks before Miss Eight was born.
Fast forward two weeks and three days, and I am home, by myself with my newborn for the first time. I'm holding this beautiful, perfect, sleeping baby girl, and all I could think about was that cactus.
Because I thought: I can't even keep a cactus alive! Whose idea was it to put me in charge of a human being?!
Luckily, babies prove to be a lot more hardy than cacti. Hashtag, PraiseTheLord.
But my brown thumb never really improved. I'm not even sure I have a brown thumb, because that would imply something earthy. I have, like, a neon blue polka-dot thumb.
Until today.
Do you know what I did, people? I successfully rooted TWO herb cuttings.
What, what?!?!
This mint was part of my first ever homestead barter.
I traded some lambs ear and got a mint cutting, which I promptly forgot about and left in my car, sitting in a cup of water. Thankfully, my car acted like a green house, and the sturdy little plant rooted in just a few days. I stuck it in some dirt, and here it grows, almost six week later.
But this baby...
This one I'm REALLY proud of.
This was cut off a Rosemary bush that belongs to the PreacherMan's grandmother. The plant is strong and beautiful and just begging to be propagated. But there's one thing I know about Rosemary (or any green thing, really): if it can be killed, I will be the one to do it.
So I babied these cuttings. The day I got them home, I shaved the "bark" and leaves off the bottom three inches, and I put them in a glass jar full of room temperature water. Then I stuck it in the kitchen window, which receives the best morning sun.
I have NO idea if any of that was right (except I did read somewhere to shave off the bark, I think).
I changed out the water every couple days, and wiped the stems of any "slime" that might have formed.
A week went by.
Two weeks.
Three weeks.
When we left for the beach last Thursday, there was nary a root, and the leaves were starting to shed and feel brittle.
I knew I had killed it and was preparing myself to dry it for later use.
So imagine my surprise when we returned from the beach to find these beauties floating in the water!
Lovely, delicate, NEW roots!
I'm letting them grow a couple more days in the water, and then I plan on potting them. Again, I have NO idea if that's the right thing to do, but I'm hoping a lot of prayer and a little luck will yield me some vibrant, fragrant rosemary by the end of summer.
Happy planting, y'all!
*Edited to Add: I recently found out that rosemary roots best when it's a smaller cutting (think: 3-5 inches). So if these babies survive the planting, you better believe I'll be trying again with smaller, greener cuttings.
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