Tried & True Learnings From Herb-ing

So I have had my herb garden for a few months now and ready to reassess and replant a few bits and pieces in a couple of weeks. A lot of it will keep producing and will not be touched. I have learnt so much in a short space of time – from pretty much zilch to a few handy tips in owning a herb garden.

Trial and Error Tips –

Flatleaf Parsley – pick regularly otherwise it will grow too big and the leaves will thin out. Don’t be afraid to eliminate your parsley for cooking reasons (oops)….it will grow back, thank goodness.
Coriander – grew really fast for me. Use scissors to harvest and cut at the stems. It grows even quicker in part-shade and gets a nice dark green colour about it.

Rosemary – regularly has to have the chop otherwise it rebels and goes a little haywire. I think I need to get some cuttings to give away for friends who want to grow some. Any takers?

Spring Onion – if you throw leftover spring onion down the back at your fence as ‘compost’, it will grow and you will be sad that it is in the wrong place, but stoked that you have an awesome supply of spring onions for dips that you didn’t even have to plant or care for. I am careful where I throw my old tomatoes now….

YouTube – not a herb, but a very handy tool in working out when and how to harvest your herbs. I enjoy reading books, but I learn much better when it is visual so watching YouTube clips with people actually doing the pruning, planting, and picking really helped me learn.

Next Time –

First of all, I know what I use most and what I definitely need more of! Next round there will be no lettuce (it was a little fickle with where I have my herb garden planted…too much sunshine), but I will try again with the baby spinach (it went a little bitter…), more basil, more flat-leaf parsley for cooking (the curly parsley is great for salads so I have a mix of both), and more shallots (which I kept using before it got to its full potential).

Who knew there were so many types of rosemary? I have no idea which type I planted and they all have slightly differing flavours and growing habits, so next time I will take note of what I have. I also need a little planting calendar to make a mark of when and what I planted. I didn’t bother working out what seasons to plant what, I just did it cause that is the way I roll.

Next time, I will never ever leave my strawberries unattended when the chooks are on the prowl. I learnt this the hard way with my first harvest. Just a few survived to continue growing after the massacre.

Herb Garden Update

If you have read about my herb garden here and here then you will know what is hidden under this funny looking dome (and why I have a funny looking dome in my backyard)….

This is what you will find: ta da! —-

You’ll find different types of lettuce, basil, parsley, coriander, baby spinach, thyme, oregano, chives and shallots.

Since my new Tilly, this is being used a LOT!

 

Protecting My Herb Garden From CATS

She never had a chance.

One of the biggest hurdles when growing your own herbs or vegies are the invasion of pests.  My cats are not pests in my eyes….but they are when it comes to my innocent, defenceless baby herbs.  Also, I don’t like eating fresh food that has been growing in cat poo and cat wee infested soil.

At the creation of my herb garden we immediately set up some kind of “cage” to make sure our two beloved felines stayed out of it!

This seems to be a common problem…even for people who don’t own cats (beware of the neighbourhood cat). Our friends made a vegie patch a few years ago and had non-stop troubles with their two cats using the vegie patch as a sun tanning spot (the warmth of the soil) and kitty litter (yuck!). They tried nearly everything including sticking masses of paddle pop sticks into the soil so the cats would have no where to walk.  Still didn’t work.  They were persistent!

Once the cats have been in there, you are fighting an up hill battle.

So from the get-go we had to make sure there would be NO WAY our cats could get in and start a habit. This is what we came up with using what we had lying about in the garage. All that was missing were some laser beams and an armed guard.

Our makeshift herb garden protection from cats!

Now that the herbs are starting to grow they needed more space to be beautiful, so today we drove back down to Bunnings to grab some equipment to make a more permanent Fort Knox.  I watched a movie on the couch and my husband sewed up a storm. I love him.

My husband is the sewing legend! Whipping up a cover for my herb garden. True love.

The finished cover! Protects from not only cats, but frost when it arrives, bugs and other annoying things.

And finally, for a bit of a laugh 🙂

My New Herb Garden

My selection of herbs

I have always wanted my very own herb garden.  I waste so many herbs when I buy a bunch from the supermarket for a recipe and then use a few sprigs and toss the rest.

Our cat Panini checking out the new herbage!

Warning Panini about my herbs - "Do Not Touch!"

Watering the soil. It was such a hot day that I set myself up in the shade and did my watering from there. I watered before I planted so that the soil compacted first.

Planting my baby herbs - can't wait to eat!

The herbs that I planted: baby spinach, cos lettuce, mix lettuce, chives, spring onion, basil, thyme, oregano, parsley.  I want to go and get some coriander and rosemary, but the shop had run out (apparently this weekend was the weekend for planting a herb garden).  In a separate tub I planted mint (which needs to be all on its own as it likes to spread), chillies and strawberries.

Read about how I protected my herb garden from my cats here.