The Herbal Way!

Those who have been reading along for a while will remember the trouble that I had with the little drainage pond that I called Puddle Pond.  Puddle Pond was only created as a catchall for the rain that would pour off the eaves of the house.  Without gutters, an ugly, deep rut was being washed next to the house and the Puddle Pond made all the difference in the world!  The rut was turned into a flowing stream with the aid of a pond pump!  But...sad to say,  Puddle Pond met an untimely demise due to the unfortunate meeting of a resident moccasin and a four-pronged pitch fork.  The vinyl lining of Puddle Pond acquired four perfectly spaced holes and would no longer hold water.  Poor little Puddle Pond!  No matter how I tried, I could not mend the liner.  It made me sad to think that little Puddle Pond was a goner! The fix?  Turn Puddle Pond into an herb garden!

The little Puddle Pond in its prime!

To make the transformation from pond to garden, I left the liner in the bottom, more holes were poked and lots of mulch and dirt were hauled to fill the pond.  I carefully planted the little herb plants with plenty of space between them to allow for growth.  Not once did I think of the fact that this "pond" herb garden would again be the "catchall".  Sure water ran down the gravel "now-dry creek" to the once pond but that water also carried all the fertile soil and rotted leaves along with it.  All of this fertilized that little garden and the plants flourished!  The Ginger started towering over the Sweet Basil plants.  The Purple Holy Basil began to shove the Mint over on its side.  The Dill promptly smothered the Parsley!  My little herb garden soon became overgrown!  There is no room for the plants to expand any further!  Already the Taragon has spilled over into the Blueberry row making for quite a mess of herbs!  I am thrilled with transformation of Puddle Pond into an herb garden!  (Now I just need to think of a quaint name to dub the garden!)

Some of the massive plants in the garden Herbal Way!

I am thinking that tomorrow might be a good day to harvest and dry most of these herbs!  Even if I trim them back a good bit, there is enough growing season left to get another harvesting!  Perhaps at this rate, I shall not have to buy herbs at all this coming winter!  I am also thinking that I need a much larger herb garden.  The expansion will have to be a work in progress but by next spring, I hope to at least double maybe even triple the size!  There are so many different types of herbs to be grown!  Its the Herbal Way!  Aha!  The name of the garden...Herbal Way!!!