My Herb Garden

I’ve been gardening a lot recently, trying to get our property in tip top shape to grow a garden and plant my apple trees. This is all so that I have things to ferment.

There was a small flower bed in front of the window of our office that I thought would make a nice little herb garden. I measured it as being about teen feet long, and the space between the down spouts and being flush with the patio concrete was 18 inches wide.

I talked to my father about making a raised plant bed for that space. We found some scrap wood and made it 10 feet long by 18 inches wide on the outside, so the inside was actually smaller. We put in two cross braces to prevent the dirt from bowing the longer sides and to give more stability. The whole thing was screwed together.

In the meanwhile, I had to go remove all the weeds and a few flowers from the location, along with picking out the river rock that the previous owners used as trim that got buried. The soil was all clay.

So I put the new frame down in the space, and it fit perfectly. I then spent about $35 on two bags of dirt and some herbs. I got herbs that I cook with, such as oregano, thyme, chives, tarragon, fennel, curry, sage, and cilantro. Of all of those, I believe the cilantro is the only one that dies every year, but I should be able to plant it every year. I thought about transplanting my rosemary bush into this spot, but it was too big. Also, I did not plant any mint or lemon balm since I have both of those in other parts of the yard, and they do have a spreading tendency, so they would take over the entire bed. I thought about getting lavender, but I decided my use for it would be small. Also, I thought about basil, but it does not like wind and dies back every year, so the ability to maintain it would require some work compared to the other plants.

I also decided to take some of the smaller river rock we had been picking out of our property and make a “river” running though my herb garden to give it a design element. As a last thought, I also put down a little bit of lettuce seed.

I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. Now I will have more fresh herbs for cooking, seasoning, and brewing.