Catnip Explosion 2012

Over the winter I let all of the herbs in the balcony garden bolt (go to seed), while the balcony became a seasonal wild bird feedery. The birdies kicked their seeds everywhere, including into the pots of dead stems that I was too lazy to empty until spring.

Around February, which was unseasonally warm, some leafy sprouts began coming up in what had been a mixed herb planter. I presummed they were birdseeds germinating, and planned to clear them out once gardening season began in ernest.

Two months later, the "birdseed" was lush and robust, with no care or even watering. It became clear by the shape of the leaves that this was not birdseed but something in the mint family, though not minty tasting enough to be any kind of kitchen mint.

The container next to them last year had been a huge bushel-sized catnip plant, which I had harvested and dried, leaving it to flower and seed. This new unplanned plant looked for all the world like healthy young catnip. I needed a feline test kitchen to know for sure, but Benjamin is straight-edge and doesn't touch the stuff. It was beowabbit's giant girl-kitty Chicken Finger (a true catnip lush) we turned to, who sniffed a sample with interest, and declared it a raw version of her favorite snuff, giving us our answer in hedonistic rolls in it. Last year's seeds had traveled the few feet or so to this new and bigger container.

Give it 6 weeks and I'll be taking orders for fresh or dried 'nip. It will be hedge-sized by mid-summer!