My "Herb" Bed

Two years ago, I moved my herb bed frame out of a shaded area of the garden and into the sun.  I spent some time figuring out how to deter the dogs from walking on my plants, and how to pretty the whole thing up.  I blogged about that project in a serial extending over Part One and Part Two.

Since then, the bed has become nicely established.  It is surrounded by yarrow, which is threatening to take the whole thing over, but I do love my yarrow, so I'm not pulling it out (yet).  This year, for the first time ever (cue drum roll please!) two of my perennial herbs survived the winter.  I'm not sure what I did differently.  My Auntie Mary warned me about planting peppermint because she said it would be invasive, but I've had to replant all mints annually.  This year, though, my spearrmint and my oregano (!) both survived the winter.  The chives are also doing well in their converted canner planter.  I stuck a few more herbs in there (trailing rosemary, chocolate mint, and another oregano plant, which I bought before I realized last year's survived).  I always put some flowers in for colour too.

The view from my deck:

Quadrant 1 is mostly herbs.  Top row:  oregano, rosemary.  Middle row:  chocolate mint, petunia in shoe.  Bottom row: spearmint and another petunia.

Quadrant 2: snapdragons in the upper left; yarrow on the bottom left, chives on the right.

Quadrant 3 is mostly flowers, with daisies (which also survived the winter) in the basket on the left, yarrow in the bottom centre, and my new oregano plant on the right.  Snapdragons here and there for colour.

Quadrant 4:  the yarrow took over one of the herb containers, and scarlet runner beans are planted at the base of the trellis.

Fertilizer Friday ~ Flaunt your Flowers!

It's Fertilizer Friday, folks - time to fertilizer our plants indoors and out, and post pictures of what's growing in our little corner of the world today. This meme is hosted by Tootsie Time - make sure you stop by to link in, or to find links to other participants.

I still have a lot going on in my garden - too much, actually, in the case of weeds! Most of what I'm going to share today has already been "featured" on past Fertilizer Fridays, but, hey, if it's all still growing and blooming. So without further ado, a selection of snapdragons:

I just love this colour combo - I haven't seen a snapdragon with it before.

Borage

A shot of my herb bed - it is really flourishing. I hope the trellis will continue to fill in with scarlet runner beans, but they are already blooming, as you can see in the next photo.

A sort of panorama shot of my veggie beds

Kentucky wonder pole beans working their way up the trellis. Not too many blooms or baby beans yet.

And, my first zucchini of pickable size.

I'm off to Tootsie's to check out the other gardens. Thanks for visiting today!

Flaunt those Flowers this Fertilizer Friday!

Join in the fun of Tootsie Time's Fertilizer Friday meme ~ fertilize your flowers inside and out; post pictures of what's blooming for you this week; and link up over at Tootsie's blog.

We've had a lot of rain this week (yippee!) - it was much needed. If we can just get some hot weather now, things will really get hopping. In the meantime, here's what's going on at the School of Yard Knocks:

Potted pansies, petunia, ivy geranium

Calendula

Yarrow

New lily from my sister

Snapdragons

Pansy

And a new begonia I picked up this week - still not transplanted

What's new in your garden this week?

Herb Bed, Part 2

Okay, so when I went in for supper yesterday, I wasn't quite finished the herb bed. In the evening, I scouted around for more items to repurpose and decided that my cucumbers could live without the teepee trellis. Last night, I arranged the trellis in the bottom left corner of the bed - the two faux terra cotta pots were directly opposite each other across the birdbath. I even planted scarlet runner bean seeds all around the base of the trellis. This morning, I decided it looked good, but could look better. I basically switched positions of the trellis and the terra cotta pot in the bottom left quadrant of the bed. This meant digging up and sifting through the soil in search of the scarlet runner bean seeds! I found about half of them, which I replanted in the new position. If any others sprout, I will transplant.

I should have taken a picture from the deck, but with the trellis in the new spot, when you're looking at the herb bed from the deck, the trellis will be right behind the birdbath, which should be really pretty once the beans start going up.

I also transplanted some chives from the ground into the canner; sunk the two black plastic pots and put herbs in them; and put down a rose stepping stone that I can set my watering can on.

So, the bed now has dill (seeded); peppermint, spearmint, oregano, thyme, and chives (transplanted); snapdragons (transplanted); and scarlet runner beans (seeded). Can't wait to see it in August!

"Before" photos

I finally got the last of my flower seedlings planted tonight. The calendula, sunflowers, and last of the marigolds went into the ground. I rarely plant anything right in the ground because the dogs will just trample it. If I do put something right in the ground, I try and position it close to a barrel or planter or fence or someplace the dogs don't usually go. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. They've broken about 4 of my snapdragons already. I love my dogs more than I love my garden though (I love my dogs, I love my dogs, yes I love my plant-trampling dogs *very* much, I really do). My whole yard is evolving around the dogs, really. The raised beds were all about the dogs. It's working. It's just a work in progress.

I also had some pansies which I stuck into pots (above) and the alyssum, which I stuck into planters I had already planted (on the side of the house).

So, this is my first "before" picture. With luck, by August this will be all lushly green, and you won't even see the boxes. This is the view from my back fence. You can see my handstrung trellis for my pole beans in the foreground and my little yellow house, with the patio lanterns gleaming, looks faaaar in the distance. (Okay, you may have to click on the picture to enlarge it in order to actually see the gleaming patio lanterns.)

Take note because the above is an extremely rare photo of my "orchard." My orchard is always very weedy and I hate taking pictures that showcase my weeds. However, I got it weed-free last Saturday and figured I better take a picture before the green sprouts start showing again. In the foreground on the left is my dad's poor crabapple tree. I think it's on its last limbs. Dad fussed over that tree endlessly and I have absolutely no knowledge of what the fussing entailed. So, it is languishing. Beyond the mailbox my mom painted (gardening hand tools stored inside) are raspberry canes; and beyond those, the saskatoons. There's a sweet millions cherry tomato plant in the planter in the foreground.

Okay, this is my "deckio." It is a wooden deck, but only about 4" off the ground - not a stone patio and not a deck, hence the "deckio." I love it. It's very cosy. My mom and dad built this themselves and I have a picture of them in my verandah in which they are looking hot and grubby but giving big smiles and thumbs up while they stand on the completed deckio.

You can see the fuschias I bought for my mom for Mother's Day hanging there, and beyond the deckio is the firepit, barrels with wave petunias (and marigolds planted right against those barrels)and then the raised beds. On the right is a "ladder" my dad built my mom specifically to stick little planters on, and my poor snappies are precariously arranged around the ladder. What the dogs need to do over there is anyone's guess. But anyway, again, barring snow in July or a tornado, this should look very different in August.

Knock wood.