Tuesday 8 May 2012

Green herbs


Our herb garden is so beautiful just now.  It grows right outside the kitchen window, where it's quick to run out and get some herbs to go in a salad or soup or stew.

It is so absolutely gloriously green.  


The parsley and calendula we put in last year have seeded brilliantly. 


And the catmint has begun to spread well. The cats eat it a lot. I think it smells like incense.  I love it. 


The sage was blasted by the frost and covered in snow in the winter, but it's come back bringing its sheaves rejoicing. And the southernwood just to the right of it is flourishing.


There are two herb beds - one is Hebe's.  She has two kinds of mint and some lemon balm just at the edge of hers here. 


We are not sure what this is.  It came by itself.  Either a foxglove or a baobab, we think.  Possible a triffid. 


Just beside the house we have this little tree nursery.   



Quite a few nettles near this end of the bigger of the two beds - they are very welcome. I use them for my tea.


And beyond the herb beds, the new grass we sowed this spring; with lots of lovely meadow herbs growing in among it. 





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365 366 Day 129 – Tuesday May 8th  
  (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, see here)     





Unnecessary instructions for machines.  The mode of operation is self-evident.  Nonetheless I have a compulsion to save the instructions just In Case.  Bit I overcame it and threw this away.  I have not regretted it. 

11 comments:

maria said...

Oh Pen...it is just lovely! :)

So green and delectable :)

m.

Elizabeth Saunders said...

What a lovely garden you have! I like herbs; they seem to be the only thing I can grow. The sage has been greeting me with purple flowers when I get home from work.

Ganeida said...

I love growing herbs. Our cats love the curry plant & wallow in it till they come inside smelling like an Indian side dish! lol

Pen Wilcock said...

:0) Hi Maria! x It is really lovely just now. Come August it will look a bit wild and unmanageable, and there's an awful stage when the plants are seeding so it's not yet time to cut them back for the winter when it presents a scene of straggly brown semi-dead wilderness. That's why I photographed it now!!

Hi Elizabeth :0) - your sage is ahead of ours in England - nowhere near flowering yet. It's quite a cold Spring this year - though the catnip is in flower. At the moment our bluebells are glorious all through the woods. I like growing herbs partly for cooking and medicine, partly for fragrance and also for hardiness. Herbs seem to be among the few plants that don't create insect dilemmas. Our roses have black spot already, and we really don't want to spray poison. And the vine weevils went for the pot plants. But the herbs just trudge on through everything :0)

Me too, Ganeida. We don't have a curry plant at this house - we had one at our last house and the cats there didn't seem especially interested. I must look out for one this summer and try it on the cats here - they love herbs, and spend ages in the garden collecting personal fragrance :0)

Anonymous said...

“If one consults enough herbals...every sickness known to humanity will be listed as being cured by sage.”
Varro Taylor, Ph.D. (herb expert)


I love your garden.
regards wimmera

Pen Wilcock said...

Such an interesting quote! Every place I have ever lived in, I have planted sage, rosemary, thyme,and lavender - and, in most places, bay. To my delight, in this garden the parsley (which I have had trouble growing before) has really taken off. x

BLD in MT said...

What a lovely herb garden. Beautiful and so useful! Matt and I both desire to learn more about herbs and using fresh herbs when cooking. Every year we learn a little more (but just a little!), but there is so much to learn! So much variety! We've been scouting out a location (near the kitchen) to serve as our herb garden. Maybe someday it will look close to as lovely as yours!

Pen Wilcock said...

Yes, it's handy right by the kitchen. Herbs are very encouraging - they grow easily and really quick! :0)

Anonymous said...

do you make essential oils from your herbs?
wimmera

Pen Wilcock said...

No - we have never done this. We use essential oils a lot as well as herbs, but we have always bought our oils. I always imagined you need like fields and fields to get more than a few drips of oil.

Pen Wilcock said...

! I haven't yet got used to the new system on Blogger, and I have just lost three different comments from three different posts. Sigh. I have a nasty feeling I may have accidentally clicked "Delete" instead of "Publish". In case that is so, what Pilgrim said here was:


"That is very pretty, and makes me want to move to an older house with an interesting yard. My back yard bed has only tea and flowers, at this point: two rosebushes, purple salvia, yellow Dutch irises blooming, right now.
The front landscaping has put on its spring show and calmed down.
:-) "

Thanks, Pilgrim - we love roses too! x