Adventures in Gardening

I realize that I'm not very original in this post, having just read in at least five different places about people's budding new gardens (pun very obviously intended). But I just have to share about the newest project I started at our house: an herb garden! 

Check out the spread:

To the untrained eye, these would appear to be simple seed packets; ordinary things easily found in any well-stocked grocery store or back-yard garden.  To someone native to my neck-of-the-woods, most are quite hard to find.  My friend, Stephanie, brought them back from her trip to America, and it felt like Christmas!

To me, these represent creations, meals or memories that have yet to occur: fresh spaghetti sauce, homemade insect repellent, an aromatic table display, or authentic salsa stuffed into naan-bread tacos.

They will birth beauty, nourishment, hands-on homeschooling, and responsibility in me and my children. 

And, it will simply be, FUN!

I'm starting with them all in medium-sized containers to house my seedlings.  Once they are strong enough, the plan is to transplant them into my garden or in various pots all around the porch, especially the ones that naturally repel mosquitoes!  My front door will be surrounded by Thyme for purely that reason!  Here, malaria and dengue is quite common, so it is best to be on the offense against it!

BTW: side note: who knew cilantro seeds were so HUGE!?  I opened up the package and blinked a little in response.

To label these babies, I've been on the look-out for cute little plant-labeler-thinga-majiggers.  But, to my dismay, none could be found!  Instead, I chose the "greener" (is that a legit word now?) route and used some plastic knives instead.  To some, it might be tacky, but to me, it saves a trip to the store and saves money on something that I'd have to find at a fancy home-decorating store (IE: over-priced imports!).

What are you growing lately?  Any gardening tips for novices like me?