A few birthday presents

It was my birthday during the week and I was thrilled to receive a few growing gifts.

First up was a True Curry Leaf tree Murraya Koenigii. 

This is it on the left (or is it the middle?). It looks a little sickly from the winter’s cold, but should perk up again in Spring. I’m keeping it on a sunny windowsill until Spring, when I’ll pot it up and take it outside. I’ve crushed a leaf or two to get an idea of the flavour, but it smells terrible – is that normal?

Also in the curry theme is the curry plant. That’s the little one in the picture above. Its leaves are aromatic and (unlike the curry leaf tree) smell just like a curry.

And even more exciting is the peppermint plant that the kids bought me.

It came with a lovely self-watering pot with a built in water level indicator. I’ve potted it up and I’ll wait until I start getting new growth before I harvest some for a cup of tea. I was always running out of peppermint tea, so it will be wonderful to always have a ready supply, fresh from the garden.