After we added the cobblestone boarder separating the espaliered fruit trees & strawberries from the rest of the yard, the right side of the back of our house looked out of balance. We had built the espalier boarder along the fence then wrapped it along the left side of the back of the house. This left the right side of the back feeling out of balance and a little naked.
To balance things out we decided to add an herb bed on the right side with a matching cobblestone boarder. We were a little short on space for the amount of herbs we wanted to grow so this worked out perfectly. Being right next to the back door it's the perfect space for grabbing herbs for the kitchen.
In this bed we also dug four pots into the ground that we will plant with rosemary. Since rosemary is not winter hardy in Minnesota growing it in pots will allow us to bring it inside the house to safely overwinter it (and have it available for roasts and stews during the cold months).
We dug each hole for the pots so they would sit just above ground level. Instead of setting the terra-cotta pots directly in the ground we placed used plastic pots from a local nursery in the ground first. These plastic pots will act as a liner making it really easy to remove the terra-cotta pots in the fall. The liner will also keep the holes from filling in without the terra-cotta pots in place. This will make it easy to just slip the pots back in place each spring.
As we were not originally planing on adding this bed we did not have all the plants started to fill it. We had a couple extra lavenders and some Chinese wolf-berries that we planted, but the rest we bought, mostly at the Saint Paul Farmers Market. We choose several different types of thyme, pineapple sage, alpine strawberries, and of course the rosemary. While these plants won't add much to the urban ton, they will allow us to make what we grow taste even better as we eat it!
2 comments:
I am so in awe of you! This is a blog I've been looking for for years - a local edible urban landscaping blog! I'm in St. Paul (by Como) and just had two huge ugly silver maples taken down. I want to put in fruit trees and garden beds and a new sidewalk and I have gotten so much inspiration and information from your blog. I do have a few questions. How do you keep rabbits and squirrels out of your garden? We have so many I have to put up ugly chicken wire around my beds. I'd love to be able to plan my new garden without it but I'm afraid everything will get eaten and dug up. Do you just have so much you can afford to lose a lot to wildlife? My other question is how on earth do you have time for all this? I can only barely keep up on weeding, watering and mowing.
We're glad you found the blog and are enjoying it! We spend a lot of time in our gardens and it's all coming together nicely this year.
With regard critters getting into our gardens we have been blessed by it not being too much of a problem. Our yard is fenced and the rabbits are kept out by it. Even if they did get in the main garden bed is 2 feet above ground and it would be a feat for them to climb up it.
Squirrels are all around and commonly in the yard. That said they tend to be more interested in the bird feed than the veggies. We also have a dog who loves chasing them out of the yard so they stay on their toes when their near.
Our biggest losses come from the chickens when they manage to get into one of the beds. They just love digging in them and eating young tender plants.
If you have a big problem with squirrels you might try spraying a hot pepper solution on whatever their getting into. It is said to be a good organic deterrent, just be sure to wash the produce before you eat it!
Post a Comment