Gardening: "My Garden" - Part Four, Herb Garden 2011

I had a moderate amount of involvement in the herb garden this year. The herb garden is our oldest and largest garden, and it has had many incarnations. It started out as a huge, nearly wild bunch of mint that threatened to take over the porch stairs. More herbs have been added every year since then, and we even moved the entire garden from one side of the front door to the other since we started. So far this year it has been all me working on it, since Mr. Farmer has been busy with processing and packing pork for the past couple weeks.

The chives, garlic, curly parsley, and oregano popped up as expected when the snow finally melted. I painstakingly removed the dry, dead leaves from these plants and loosened the soil a little so that they can spread.  I removed the oregano to make room for the new Greek oregano, and mixed in some nice soil so that it sets up well. The roots were very bound, so I could not separate the plants, but I was able to spread them into a row that works for us.

One of the rhubarb plants did not return as expected this spring, and we didn't want the dill in the same place, so we saved the seeds. The rhubarb plant I will replace very soon, either with a plant from the store or from a friend who has too much. The dill I replanted just before a strong rain. It seems not to have washed away, so I added a nice layer of good soil on top of what I think are little dill sprouts. Quite a lot of it is coming back up where it was last year as well, so I am waiting a bit to decide where it will be in the end.

There isn't too much left to do before the herb garden changes over to maintenance. Soon we will add the basil plants, which we have always purchased, believe it or not, from the grocery store! The rosemary that I planted from seed failed last year, but I like it so much that I am going to try again from plants. We also planted cucumbers in the herb garden this year, so that we have room for more tomatoes and peppers in the vegetable garden. I'm thrilled about how the herb garden is coming along, and I have great hopes for it!

Partial View of the Herb Garden
(Just to the left would be cucumbers and basil)