Last weekend was beautiful and we spent much of our time outside.

I stood outside staring at a mess and decided that my "herbs gone wild" garden had to change... My herb garden started the spring my mother became ill. I put in a few herbs... some mint, lavender, sage, rue, chives, basil, lemon balm, and oregano. The following spring I brought bricks from my parents' old walkway and bricked the area into a nice raised bed, installed landscape fabric, and rearranged my herbs. I added some others. The mint eventually went crazy. (It is hard to believe that so much could come from one little pot.) I eventually relocated it to the back of the garage. I continued each year to tweak the herb space and eventually things became crowded. The landscape fabric, I finally realized, was not properly placed and I had a natural disaster. The lemon balm was sprouting everywhere and the weeds were embedded in the landscape fabric. It also seemed that I had neglected cutting things back in the fall. I dove in... I put on my gloves, dug around a bit, grabbed the landscape fabric, and just started pulling, ripping, and rolling. Very quickly, I had the bed cleaned out. Some herbs were sacrificed. I might have heard some cries! I replaced the herbs. I planted the butterfly bush my family gave me for Mother's Day in the center of the bed. I added a variety of other perennials that attract humming birds and butterflies too. We even planted a money tree from my Grandmother's. (Simon & Annestelle are still trying to figure that one out!) I am looking forward to the blooms that will assist Mary in blessing our yard this summer!

Happy Hobbies!

Outside

Enjoying...
Impatiens & Begonias on the deck...

and some lovely Lavender.

Noticing...
the sad condition of my herb bed;

possibly the saddest it has looked since I started it 5 years ago.

hmmmm....

Waiting for...
the wild flower mix to bloom.

Can you see the tiny bits of color?
They're coming!

Happy Hobbies!

Growing Things!

I crammed way too much into these tiny spots, but I couldn't help myself. The kids don't exactly discourage me at the garden center either. I wanted to get a few hot pepper plants to try. The little people and I came home with 20 hot pepper plants, but only 5 different varieties. HA... So I overfilled the plot on the right and filled two large containers on the deck to fit them all. Check out the super hot Chile peppers below. Isn't that a lovely red? My husband can't wait to burn his mouth on those!

The plot to the left in the first picture is filled with tomatoes and various other bell pepper plants. I can already taste those peppers in Rachael Ray's Spicy Thia Chicken Recipe! "YUM-O" There again, I bought way more than I planned! Do you think there is such a thing as GARDEN CENTER TEMPTATION SYNDROME? Shall we label that GCTS?

I also couldn't resist (GCTS) the purchase of patio tomatoes which are happily growing on my deck! MMM... See those green guys... Can't wait until August!

I think my little people have GCTS too! Another day we went for a few plants for the deck and, VIOLA! We have 4 pots of gerbera daisies, 6 pots of basil (a good bug deterrent), a huge pot of begonias, 3 pots of gladiolas (these bulbs were planted so late), cilantro from seeds & marigolds from seeds! Oh yes, and don't forget the straw flowers!

These gerbera daisies sure are beautiful! At least GCTS is bringing joy to our summer senses!

Happy Hobbies!

Herb Gardening

I love growing herbs... I can't claim I'm herb savvy, I just love them.

I started growing herbs on a whim two summers ago, and this year I decided I wanted to level the bed out and essentially start over. My parents offered me some recycled bricks and off I went.

I just started at the short end and went with it. I'm sure a professional would have laughed at my process but I'm thrilled with the end result. It was a pretty enjoyable task given the fact that it took me a month because of some other outdoor projects and so much "help" from my little people. I added wheel barrows full of dirt, transplanted all of the perennials and added annuals.
My herb bed includes lavender, lemon balm, lemon verbena, rosemary, thyme, basil, spicy basil, rue, chives, oregano, purple sage, dill and tricolor sage. MMM... It smells so good out there!I do faithfully use the basil, dill & chives in the kitchen. I'd love to be able to say I use everything else I plant. Sigh... I must follow through with using the rest of these happy plants. I guess I've found my next research project!

Happy Hobbies!

HobbyMommy