Location, Location, Location

You may have heard the most important thing in selectimg

a place for your business is Location, Location, Location.

The lavender and garlic chives thrive - a great example of
raised bed planting success - both Daisy and Herbie agree.

 Drainage, Drainage, Drainage

Well I learned quickly from Madalene Hill and Gwen Barclay

that the most important thing n selecting a place for your garden

is "Drainage, Drainage, Drainage."

Good Drainage is even more important than the

dirt herbs grow in as herbs don't have to have rich soil to grow and thrive.

  

A cat's eye view of the Mary's Garden at Round Top Texas, Festival Hill.



I remember Michael Bettler pointing out a picture of his and

Lucia's garden in author's Madelene and Gwen's Southern Herb Growing

book saying it was actually an example of how NOT to garden since he

had since learned the value of raised bed

gardening. I don't have a copy of that picture to

post but found quite a few different examples of some

other raised bed gardens. 

Concrete block surround raised beds planted in assorted pepper plants.
The blocks are high enough and wide enough to also double as a
seating areas at the Fort Worth botanical gardens

We have a lot of clay in our soils so that when it rains (not so much lately)

it doesn't always drain well, stressing plant roots depriving them

of oxygen. Raised bed gardening helps prevent that.

Raised garden bed with drip irrigation ready to be planted for an EarthKind Rose
trial at the Confederate Airforce Museum (CAF) in Ector Midland Counties.

Examples of raised garden beds that take advantage

of vertical gardening and support.

Planted raised bed garden at the Master Gardener
CAF Gardens adjacent to garden bed above.

My husband built this wooden box frame filled with
soil to include a fence panel trellis and two end posts for our
malaar spinach - a hot weather spinach that loves to climb. This
is actually a raised bed within a larger raised bed. Fairly simple to make,
at least for me since my husband made it.

BE CREATIVE

I love this example. Always creative in utilizing what nature provides,
Marylyn Ponder includes wooden branches  on top of existing soil with
more soil and compost on top to add drainage to her salad vegetable garden.



Raised beds made in preparation for butterfly
hummingbird plants at Sabal Palms Sanctuary.

 

Wooden posts garden beds with drip irrigation,
ready for planting vegetables at the Cameron
County Master Gardener Arboretum in San Benito, TX.

You may not want to get too ambitious when you first begin -

Don't make it hard on yourself.

Gardening and being outdoors is

all about having fun.

Twelve Oaks B&B, Bulverde, TX mounded raised beds planted in
their front landscape with rosemary and lavender.

Start small and you can add. The soil in our first year raised

bed garden was pretty tough but now after several years of adding to it

and tilling it each year, it's really gotten so much easier to work.

This didn't happen overnight. It just gets better and better.



Community Garden example at the San Antonio Botanical Garden.
Two proud young gardeners show off their veggies harvest.
I liked this bed as it is very easy to reach from either side of the raised bed
and also includes drip irrigation.

 

Horticulturist and Gestalt Gardener, Felder Rushing proves that anyone
can garden anywhere, any time and any place. Check out his truck garden bed.

Remember to have fun! Anyone can garden, anywhere, anytime

any place. Good Gardening!

Garden updates

Wacky Wabbit? (Can you find him now?)



Large rosemary surrounded by silvery lambs ear and more.














 



Herbs planted in raised beds with mulch make them happy.



Husband planting new herb beds makes wife happy.



My Happy Birthday Herb Garden

Got home this evening and my wonderful husband surprised me by planting an herb garden outside our back porch as his belated birthday gift to me. As my Dad would say "It is a thing of beauty and joy forever." I LOVE IT and was totally surprised! Just what I wanted. I am so excited.


Silly Wabbit



















Some people complain about rabbits in their garden. They might even put up a
scarecrow in their garden. Not us. We got us a big ole "Wacky" lookin rabbit
peeking out of the lavender, basil and chives.

I think "Wacky" would scare a snake with this look. "Wacky" rabbit is one of
the many interesting finds I discovered in my newly planted birthday gift herb garden.


Welcome in Mosaic





 

Mosaic Bird Bath

It begins with a nice mosaic "Welcome" sign high enough to still be seen once all the herbs start growing in and filling up this herb garden room. A miniature mosaic bird bath may serve more for a water bowl unless "Wacky" rabbit scares all the four legged creatures away.

Still checking what herb plant surprises are included.

Red Ruben Basil - This and Purple Ruffle Basil
are one of my favorites on fresh sliced garden tomatoes
sprinkled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and goat cheese.

Yummy Oregano

 "Wacky" rabbit looks well fed in this garden, doesn't he?

 

Newly mulched Red Veined Sorrel

 

Herbs like salad burnet, savory, sage, sorrel, different basils, thyme, oreganos,
chives, anise hyssop, lavender and rosemary nestle among the winding
mulched raised garden bed and walkway.



I've already harvested fresh herbs from my new garden in our dinner this evening.

Thank you Donny for the best gift ever!

Garden Basics for Newbie Gardeners

I am so proud of you as a gardening newbie! Remember it’s about having fun and trial and error. Some of the best learning times in gardens is just going through different experiences trying different things. What’s the fun if everything comes out perfect? It’s especially fun for you if you have children or grandchildren to make memories together in the garden now that they will remember all the rest of their lives.

My dad grew tomatoes when I was little and I always think of him when I eat homegrown tomatoes. I always think of my mom when I taste and smell honeysuckle. I wish we’d had an herb garden back then cause the wonderful fragrances would trigger all kinds of memories of them.

Basic Gardening Tips
As a new gardener, I’m going to give you some basic gardening tips in addition to answering your question. I hope I do not overwhelm you – that is not my intention. Take some of the info or all of it – whatever you do will be good.

Mulching and Watering Tips
It’s good to keep herbs & veggies watered and mulched. Mulching your garden keeps the soil from getting so hot and drying out quickly (conserving water). Mulching also helps keep the weeds down and if they do come up they are easier to pull through the mulch. You can buy mulch at your local nursery or garden center. I like the cedar mulch myself. You open the bag and spread it several inches deep around the base of your plants and throughout the flower bed but not right up against the plant – leave several inches clear of the plant stems. It’s not a big deal if some is touching but do not pile in on top of the plant as bugs will get in there and start eating the stems that are covered with the mulch.

You don’t want to over water your plants because if you do, oxygen won’t get to the roots and too much water will smother and drown them which kills the plant. When watering, water slowly and deeply and before you water again check how wet they are by poking one of your fingers in the soil next to the plant before watering again. If the soil feels soggy or real muddy, you don’t need to water. If it’s starting to feel dried out, water. Plants always look much better after a nice rain as rain helps to wash away the salts that build up in the soil. So rainwater tops hose or irrigation water every time. We usually get rain all at once or not at all.



Raised beds shown above before mulching.


Raised Beds
Raised beds also make for a better herb and veggie garden which allows good drainage for plants to grow. That’s important in our soils and in other places as well.

Every year you can add compost to the soil in your beds turning with a shovel or pitchfork or tilling the top 12 inches and the soil will get better and better and easier to work. Don’t expect it to be perfect the first year.

You can tell in our garden which are the older beds as they are a lot easier to work in compared to the newer ones. You wouldn’t believe how much time my husband will spend on preparing the bed but when he does the payoff is really good. As you improve your beds, the improved soil will be able to retain water much better and the healthier the soil the healthier your plants.
Now to answer your question…

Flowering Basil?
Use basil often as pruning encourages it to grow bushier and this prolongs the plant’s life. Basil will sometimes start blooming as soon as it starts growing, but keep the bloom stalks cut off as much as possible. The plants will get woody the older they get and leaves a bit sparser. It’s good to plant basil at different times throughout the growing season to keep a fresh supply. Where we live it grows a lot longer before needing replacement.

So it’s not bad that basil flowers but it’s good to keep them cut – I like to cut the flowers and bring them in and fill containers with water and the fresh cut herbs – it smells so nice and looks pretty.