garden of Herbs

I like the idea of starting out small, learning in little steps, so you can get motivated and confident to do something bigger later on.

I mentioned the seasonal rhythm in my first GARDEN post and now I'll tell you how this works with my herbs growing experience. It can be hard and discouraging sometimes but once the herbs grow they look, smell and taste beautiful!

Years ago my husband build a cart so we can grow fresh herbs. It was meant for convenience and had wheels so we could move it depending on the weather but eventually it became an important part of my gardening projects. Later, it was painted to look pretty as the outside décor as well.

Winter aftermath

So this is what I started with...

Mess! There are dried herbs from last year, twigs and leaves, plus weeds. This year I'm planning to leave it in a better conditions after the season is over.

Spring waking up

First is clean up. I pulled off everything to realize that there's actually something coming back. The twigs even though very dried, they do smell like real herbs.

Then preparation. In past years I would start with nursery bought herbs to plant in the cart. This year the preparation was the longest phase because I grew my herbs from seeds.

The challenging part of gardening is the weather, which can ruin all your hard work by destroying the crops. Another frustrating issue is your seeds not coming out. But there’s something else also annoying. Waiting. You plant your seeds and you wait. And wait. This teaches you patience. Gardening seems very simple just water and sun, yet so hard. Hopefully God will be blessing my gardening work.

These are the options:

1) Nothing grows. Cilantro didn't come out at all. I don't know why... Maybe they were old seeds or wrong application of sun and water.

2) Something grows. This was my first year growing rosemary from seeds so I didn't know how the seedlings should look like. Also, I wasn't sure initially if the sprouts were weeds or herbs.

3) This something growing is a weed, probably white goosefoot and couch grass. I didn't think I'd need to learn the names of weeds but it seems like a good idea by now.

4) This something is the right thing! So far basil is the one that I get the best results.

I like the idea of reading and preparing for new things yet I don't always have the patience for this so I just start thinking I can manage on my own. I can't...

Like with everything else I had moments where I put too much water or not enough. The first pair of leaves that was coming out didn't look like basil at all, but I wasn't aware of it. I eventually read up on basil and figured out what I did was correct.

Lastly planting. Lemon balm and oregano from last year came back to life. I pulled the dead roots of the other herbs in the cart and planted my home grown tiny plants: parsley, thyme, basil and rosemary. And now the cart is ready for...

Summer work

So now begins the real gardening.

Pulling the weeds. That's an ongoing process through the whole summer. The more often you do it the easier it is.

Watering. Only when I became a gardener did I start to like rain since it saves me some work. I'm not very good with it yet but in the future I intend to collect the rain water over the summer.

Finally picking the herbs. That's the most pleasant part of gardening!

Fall plan

I have always been a planner, not enough of an executer though. I'll do my best to finish this season correctly.

Pick all the herbs and dry them. I dried some lemon balm from last year for my teas and some oregano but other than that I didn't do much.

Learn how to collect the seeds for the next year. This self-sufficient idea is exciting.

Clean the cart. Hopefully next year the start will be easier because of the cleaner cart.

For a someone who is a professional gardener this may be a tiny achievement but it's special for me because it's mine! I cleaned it, planted it, took care of it and watched it grow. Mostly beautifully.

When the herbs are ready I'll enjoy their fresh smell in the dressings, salads and other dishes. They just taste better knowing they come from my own work and I'm proud to share them with others too.