With kinder weather this week I have been able to get on nicely in the garden with my main focus of attention being the herb bed.
In previous years our herb bed has suffered badly due to it's rather inappropriate position in a wind tunnel, and northerly winds at that. Herbs that might have survived somewhere a bit more sheltered have been beated to death by the biting winds we invariably experience at some point through the Winter. To try and combat this, last spring Simon cut some hazel and made a low woven fence on the 2 most exposed sides, hoping it would act as a wind break. So what happens this Winter? Whilst we have had copious amounts of wind it has all been from the south or west with none from the north! A quick look round the bed revealed minimal losses but we still don't know if the woven fence helped or it was simply the fact we didn't get the northerly winds! The sage was a bit battered on one side and it looks like this is not the place to grow lavender. The white one has copped it and the blue one is looking far from happy. We may have to think about relocating these as we have already done with the rosemary that hated this exposed position. Everything else looked in good fettle but for a desperatley needed haircut.
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| Before weeding and pruning |
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| After weeding and pruning |
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| Herb garden early summer 2013 |
Elsewhere, ie the polytunnel, some of the seeds I sowed (rocket and mizuna) have germinated and more and more flowers are out on my peas and broad beans. However in the veg garden, I STILL haven't tidied up the cuttings from the fruit bushes I pruned. Told you I hated doing that!
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| Broad bean flowers, March 2014 |
Oh and I planted up my little piggy hanging pot:
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| Violas |
So what have you been up to in your garden this week? Is Spring in the air or is Winter still holding on where you garden? Drop us a comment and we'll come and have a nosy round your garden!
Great work on your herb garden - looks good. And I do like your piggy pot :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Jocelyn :)
DeleteOH lovely job i gave a hair cut to my lavender i love that you call it hair cut as it is a bit like that hehe #HDYGG
ReplyDeleteI have always called it a haircut - and it's a lot easier to do than a certain young boy!
DeleteSpring is in the air at last. Your herb garden is looking lovely! x #HDYGG
ReplyDeleteThank you for popping by and commenting Honey
Deleteyour violas planter is just lovely. it's so hard when things don't grow where you would like them to. we planted a whole vegetable garden in our yard but unfortunately nothing got enough sun so nothing took. so, we took some of whatever sprouted, planted them in bins and put them on our terrace where there is sun all day long. we now have tomato and cucumber plants ready to bloom and the basil is growing as well. good luck!
ReplyDeleteI am ever so slightly jealous of your early crops! And pleased you found a suitable place to grow them too :)
DeleteOh i do like your piggy pot!
ReplyDeleteThank you Becky - so do I :)
DeleteI love that woven fence on your herb garden, I bet you can't wait for those chives to spring back into life. I always hate pruning as it seems so strange to cut something back to make it grow more.
ReplyDeleteThe chives near the house which are more sheltered are already putting up lots of new shoots - will be harvesting them very soon.
DeleteOh I do love your herb garden. Gorgeous alliums (?!) :)
ReplyDeleteThank you - the alliums are chives and we also have Welsh onions.
DeleteWell done with the herb garden, can't wait to see how it comes along as the weather warms. And thepiggy planter is fab xx #HDYGG
ReplyDeleteThank you - I am looking forward to seeing it grow too ... and so I can have fresh herbs to cook with.
DeleteI need to get on to ours when we get home this weekend!
ReplyDeleteLet me know how you get on Chez :)
DeleteI love your piggy pot! And the fence is fab too. The weather has been so different this winter to last, so who knows what difference the fence would have made.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah - hopefully we might have to wait until next Winter to see if the fence works or not but in the meantime it is very decorative.
DeleteI really want to grow more herbs - so far, have planted a Rosemary bush. It's a start x
ReplyDeleteI adore Rosemary but it has always died in this bed thanks to the cold winds ... so I have a much happier plant just out of shot in front of the building to the right. It is thriving there.
DeleteAh, I wondered why our rosemary didn't do too well after we'd moved it! This must be why - too much exposure. It's good that your little piggy friend is helping you with a bit of coulour, though!
ReplyDeleteMine certainly suffered due to the cold winds - it is much happier in the more sheltered location ... and closer to the house for when I need a spring!
DeleteGreat work with the herbs! We need to tame ours somewhat. Love that piggy, he's brilliant :)
ReplyDeleteMerci :) ... and if you look carefully you'll see a second piggy, but he's a bit shy!
DeleteOur lavender does well in a pretty exposed place - rotten soil, on the bus route, no protection from anything and it just keeps growing as long as we too, give it the haircut every year. It's a funny old plant - the original is so strong but any cuttings are just toooooo weedy.
ReplyDeleteSadly mine did not seem to come from the same hardy stock as yours :(
DeleteLove your herby garden - the chives are poking up through the ground here - makes me happy!
ReplyDeleteApologies for being so late commenting but I only got back from Africa yesterday and am sitting down and catching up with these posts! x
Thank you Annie. Chives are growing here to - in fact they have hardly taken a breather all winter. And don't apologise for being late when what you were doing in Africa is far more important than my little herb bed here in France.
DeleteLove the piggy planter ;) I planted out my broad beans this week, one of my absolute favourites. Your herb garden looks lovely - I just noticed my chives starting to come through again.
ReplyDelete