Digging a New Garden

The trees on the south side of our yard grew while we weren't looking. 

 Suddenly, it seemed, our beloved herb garden, was bathed in shade for most of the summer last year. 

 So, we decided to move it to a sunnier spot - which just happened to be in the middle of the lawn.  Good-bye grass..... hello, raised herb garden!

The Bearded One, my personal hero and the strongest man I ever met, was in heaven, digging and measuring and hauling compost from one side of the yard to the other.  No really!  He LOVES to do that stuff!  

My job was to design the layout and transplant all the herbs and plant the annual herbs - either grown from seed or purchased.  

What a team!

 Chives- a favorite spring herb since it arrives early enough to be on the table for Easter, also provides a bit of color in May and June, and the flowers can be chopped and added to the recipe or used to flavor a salad.

These tiny basil plants will become my pesto in August and September, when I prepare and freeze as much as I can for use all winter.  I keep snipping the basil all summer, topping it every time I see it trying to bloom.  This helps the plants to produce more leaves and provides the perfect accompaniment to fresh tomato salads.

This is one of my views from that lovely sunroom pictured above.  I am truly blessed to have this garden to look at whenever I want. The sunroom  is my treehouse in summer and my greenhouse in winter.  

Thyme is blooming it's little head off right now and that's OK.  It will bring in the bees and the scent is strong enough to waft into the house when it is humid.

This Carefree rose bush was also languishing in a shady spot so I decided to make this the focal point in the center of the herb garden.  I'm hoping it will take off once it feels the sun's warmth again.

I'm trying some new herbs this year.  I found a seed packet for Jamaican Hibiscus - the tropical hibiscus that flavors 'Red Zinger' Tea.  I have been buying this delicious herb from Mountain Rose for many years.  This year I'm going to try growing it in the garden and then moving it into the house in the fall.

My list of herbs for this garden includes thyme, Greek oregano, lemon verbena, basil, rose, calendula, lovage, fennel, dill, pineapple sage, chamomile, hyssop, sorrel, rue, artemisia, African blue basil, cinnamon basil, lemongrass and lavender.

In another, shadier area I have lemon balm and spearmint and peppermint. They are in containers to keep them within bounds.

Thought for Today - most herbs are easy to grow....... as easy as growing weeds!

Introducing African Blue Basil

  A few summers ago, I bought variety of basil called African Blue Basil.  It was billed as an annual that promised to be more ornamental than culinary.  It smelled wonderful and, although the leaves were similar to basil leaves, they were bluish and much smaller than my Genovese basil.

  This plant grew happily all summer and every so often I cut pieces of it to add to bouquets or to scent a room in the house.  It was a wonderful plant, flowering repeatedly and seemingly impervious to  drought, disease, bugs and neglect. It grew to be about 3 feet tall and perhaps 2 feet wide and it added color to my herb garden.

  This year I bought another African Blue Basil and guess what?  I discovered there is even more to love about it.  I brought in a few sprigs at the end of September, thinking the plant would die soon.  I put them in water to enjoy for a week or so.  I noticed that the bouquet was not wilting, so I kept adding water.  Lo and behold, the cuttings rooted!

 I planted them in a pot and put them in a sunny window on the porch and I'm hoping the plant will winter over.  It will be  so nice to crush a fresh leaf and enjoy the scents of summer when the snow is flying outside!

  This plant performs beautifully in the garden and I plan to use it in my sunny garden to attract bees and butterflies and for some lovely bluish purple flowers all summer long!

  I will still reach for the old fashioned Genovese basil when I'm ready to make pesto, though.  The flavor can't be beat.  And if I want a cup of basil flavored tea, my first choice is an Indian basil called  Holy Basil or tulsi.  It is wonderfully clove- scented,  and is a healing herb widely used in India. I find it a soothing addition to my herbal tea pot when I feel a cold coming.

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late autumn-

I vie with the plants

for a square of sunlight

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