In that limbo between Christmas and New Year, I planted some seeds into an old terracotta pot and plonked them onto my kitchen windowsill. They’ve germinated!

These sturdy green-ish shoots belong to Cat Grass, one of the packets of seeds that landed onto my doormat straight after Christmas from Suttons.

I’ve never grown it before, but it took about 48 hours to break the surface of the compost with only a cool windowsill. The grass seeds were pretty big and tough too (up to 1cm long).

These will hopefully grow into tall grass, that my cat overlord Ruby will be able to chew. This apparently helps cats with digestion, gives them nutrients (my cat is pretty much vegetarian anyway!), helps the passing of hairballs, and can calm their stomach. Sadly it’s also culprit #1 when it comes to cat sick on your carpets!

Still, we must do as our overlords instruct, so instead of watching my cat sit in the half-dead, cold (and sometimes snowy) wet garden trying to find something remotely green and grass like, i’ll be able to offer her some lush green fresh grass grown entirely for her convenience.

How obedient of me.

I already have Catnip ‘Nepeta Cataria’ and Catnip ‘Nepeta Mussinii’  growing in my garden, but this is a double-edged sword:

1. Ruby Cat loves it, and likes to bury her head in it for about 10mins every time she goes out in the garden. I know where she’ll be – high as a kite.
2. The neighbourhood cats like to bury their heads in it too at night time, resulting in Ruby almost kicking my kitchen door out to get at them (she hates other cats). I don’t let her out there at them.

Both of these plants are really quite pretty, and I have them growing close to my herb garden area. At the moment, both are somewhat dormant, and somewhat flattened by the cats. I find that bees quite like their flowers in spring.

So, whilst I’m busting to start sowing seeds again, I’m holding back, and planning the garden for 2018.

For now, happy garden planning, happy new year, and thanks for reading.

Andrew