Herb Garden

We are blessed to have a very large deck on the back of our house and the best thing about it is that because of the slope of our yard, the deck sits at a level looking into the trees at about 20 feet up. It's almost like having a tree house! Anyway, every year I plant herbs and flowers on the deck..herbs and geraniums on the sunny side and impatiens and hostas (they come back) on the shady side.

A year ago we moved a rosemary plant that had grown too big for the deck into the front, but I fear it may have sustained too much damage in the cold spell to come back, we'll see. This year I have Marjoram, Oregano, lots of Thyme, my faithful Chives that have been coming back for 10 years +, Basil, Sage, Lavander and some new Rosemary, also my Mint seems to want to make a comeback so we'll nurture it.. Also new this year we have an upside down tomato plant!  Our tomatoes in the front haven't done well the past two years so we are experimenting with this newfangled thing. The rest of the world (outside of my deck) seems upside down these days, so why not gravity-defying tomatoes? Should be fun!

It's just so nice to be able to go out and pick a tomato and a few basil leaves and make a salad. Snip a few thyme sprigs for a recipe.. I still need to plant some Italian Parsley, but I don't use it for cooking. It's for the butterflies (the yellow ones with black decorations). They love to lay their eggs on the under side of the leaves and then when the eggs hatch the caterpillar eat the plants up! I love them!

Here are some photos, the early stages, not so pretty now, but given a month of sunshine and some water, they'll be gorgeous. Plant some herbs in a sunny spot and see how rewarding it is to use them in your cooking! It's well worth it.

See you soon!