Sunday, May 17, 2009

My Herb Garden

How sweet does this look?



Who doesn't love herbs? And a garden devoted to herbs sounds heavenly.



Now that we mulched the garden beds, I can't plant herbs randomly as I did before. You shouldn't ingest anything that has had mulch on it due to the chemicals. So I chose the small area on the north side of our house. It's near the kitchen which makes it convenient. It's an area that I could maintain and control the conditions of the soil easily.


(left to right: Silver Thyme, Variegated Sage, Red Chili Peppers, Lemon Basil, Climbing Nasturtiums, Violas, Jalapeno Peppers, Italian Oregano, Dill, and Mint) The little fence is to keep the squirrels out for now. The neighborhood squirrels love to hide their peanuts here so they dig here ALOT! If my plants haven't set in yet, the big fat squirrel will turn the whole thing upside down.


I started by amending the soil with lots of compost. One end of the garden bed is dry and the other is wet, so I planted each herb based on their needs. I alternated perennial herbs and annuals, so that there would always be something growing. Also, I chose variegated sage over regular kitchen sage (all green) and a silver thyme to change up the green colors in the leaves. I added some climbing Nasturtiums and red chilli peppers for color.



The final touch were these porcelain markers from Fishs Eddy that I bought a while ago. I love them and they are so much more durable than the plastic markers. I'm so excited about my herb garden. I hope it works out. Herbs can be finicky sometimes. Just one more thing: I potted the mint (because it gets out of control), arugula for control, and cilantro (so it can reseed itself).

What is your favorite herb(s)?

2 comments:

Jenna said...

I'd been wanting fresh herbs forever but I didn't know where to buy them and my mom comes down for one week and finds them at the grocery store (a grocery store I've been to before!) I'm so excited to have basil and rosemary growing on my windowsill and I hope to start incorporating it into my cooking soon.

TwoWishes Tara said...

Always jealous of all your fabulous garden wonders (e.g., your yellow roses look spectacular), but am jealous of these herbs in particular. HATE having to buy bunches of herbs in the grocery store, just because a recipe calls for a teaspoon here or there. Hope they turn out well for you!!