Herb garden

Remember a while back we all got the awesome idea from my clever friend Des to stack pots in our gardens. Well I just couldn’t wait for Spring so scrummaged through our spider infested shed (I was so brave all on my own – John, I know you will appreciate this fact) and found a few pots – all a bit battered but still very functional and some steel poles (hope Pete doesn’t need them for something) and set to work in my little cordoned off herb garden which I have spoken about before. Once I saw what Des did in her garden, I was sold and changed my entire idea to follow in her foot steps. Thanks again Des!

Winter isn’t the best time for herbs but I have persevered and at least have some spinach, lettuce (not herbs I know), oregano, rocket, thyme, parsley – moss curled and flat leaf, spring onions, dill, garlic chives and birds eye chillies.

I could supply all foodies bloggers with bay leaves from our bay tree which you can see sticking out behind the centre row of pots – it is trying to do a Jack and the Bean Stalk number and keeps getting taller and taller. I am continually hacking away at it to keep it from taking over the herb garden.

Now I cannot wait to fill in the open spots with a few more pots and plant basil, coriander, sorrel, sage and rosemary.

Out of view in the photo are two free standing ceramic pots on either side of the herb garden. The one pot has mint in it and the other has baby tomatoes. There is one more ceramic bowl type pot which currently has a peppadew plant in it – I want to add some strawberries when they are in season too.

Bring on Spring! 😀

It’s no secret that I REALLY dislike winter so to wish it away even faster (it hasn’t even officially started yet – we are still in Autumn) , I sat down and redesigned my herb garden for in our courtyard area, so by the time Spring shows it’s beautiful face, I will be ready to rock and roll. We have a designated triangular area which is pretty bare at the moment except for a ever thriving bay tree which is smack bang in the middle. In hindsight, it was probably not the best place to plant it.

The only “open” piece of the triangle is the bottom, both sides are walls so no moving the herb garden to a better position; only remedy is to keep the herbs in pots and move them around.

I have tried to work around companion planting, perennial versus annual herbs and which plants want a little less sunlight and below is a rough sketch of what I have in mind.