Meanwhile, in the pantry...

My balcony garden is doing terribly this year. Last year was okay, but I wanted it to be even better this time. So I started out with scrubbed planters and bags of fresh dirt and fertilizer. Miki said last year that the plants didn't have enough confidence to grow big when their planters weren't deep enough. I resolved to give all the plants enough space this year, especially these two gorgeous pepper plants I bought from a nice old lady. I got roomy new pots for them and added drainage pebbles at the bottom instead of just using shards of broken Ikea plates. One of the two plants is doing great — it even has a pepper that's starting to turn yellow, as promised on its tag. But the other got little red mites on it as soon as it was settled in. I picked them off one by one, but they came back right away, curling and stunting the leaves. The internet said to spray the plant with a mild dishsoap solution and wipe it down. But it seems I accidentally stumbled on the recipe for Agent Orange — in the morning, all but two leaves had fallen off. At the same time, even with lots of space and water and love, the basil is wilting and yellowish. (Basil! How is that possible?) The morning glories manage to put out beautiful blossoms in the morning, but the leaves are turning brown and the flowers wilt like damp laundry by the time I leave for work.

The sweet potato in the cupboard, however, is growing great. There's probably a lesson here somewhere, but I'm not sure I want to know what it is.