Yesterday I did a brief burst of gardening. Nowadays that's about all I can manage. I don't hurt, but I get too tired to finish what I planned. Anyway I decided, finally, after thinking about it for several years, to move the thyme plant from the front walkway to the patio.
I originally planted it out front so neighbors could pick it as needed, but quickly found the landscapers were determined to cut it down completely. One time they came around with chainsaws and hacked off ten years' growth.
So I figured now, before they strike again, to dig it up. It's now an old woody shrub, still making wonderful leaves. This was pretty strenuous, since the pachysandra had got in there to tie it down. I needed to dig up and pot it.
However, I managed it, and that open space where the gate used to be is now a herb area.
Reading from top left, thyme, honesty in strawberry pot, not an herb but I grow it for the seedpods, lemon balm, sage, empty looking pot planted with potatoes, chives and dandelion invaded by lemon balm, Thai basil, then you're back to the thyme.
I moved out the Thai basil from the kitchen, put the potato containers there, the pot of chives and dandelions, and soon the curry leaf plant will join them. The sage and lemon thyme have been there for years.
This year I may start some new rosemary, the old one having given up after many years.
Last night obligingly it rained, first in ages, just right.
And there's always soup, here butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot. Garlic scapes growing wildly in the background, handy for all kinds of meals.
Good job on the herb garden! How happy those plants must be to find themselves outside!
ReplyDeleteAnd damn bottles and jars and containers that are almost impossible to get into! Ugh.
They were already outside, just grouped now. The only one that had been indoors was the Thai basil. I do think herbs like to be in a group.
ReplyDeleteAn accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteHah hah - using that mouthwash is somewhat akin to washing your mouth out with soap after all that cussing!
ReplyDeleteI must admit I'm hugely relieved to see your herb garden beside the walkway because I was concerned about the possibility of someone falling off the walk whilst trying to manipulate the gate. At least the pots being there will serve as a reminder that the possibility exists.
That's what is going to do us older folk in, all these tamper proof caps and seals. They're going to find us dead on the floor surrounded by jars and bottles and packages that we couldn't get open.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to plant your herbs in the ground or leave them in pots?
Nice herb garden. I love mine. Fresh herbs are so much better than dried, I think. I have problems growing thyme - it gets so hot and humid during the summer. I jealous of yours!
ReplyDeleteThe herbs are for containers. Too much competition from pachysandra to plant in the ground. Also I like to move them now and then. Yes, we have humidity in summer but not the sky high heat of Texas.
ReplyDeleteMy mail order pharmacy packs in bottles with a tamper proof cap that can be reversed to just an ordinary thread, great improvement.
Lovely box of herbs! I need to replant both our Thai and Genovese basils. They usually reseed themselves, but conditions must not have been conducive lately.
ReplyDeleteMy pharmacy also has those lids that you can turn upside down to use as a regular screw cap. And you can reuse those lids for those bottles that came with regular tamper proof lids.
I hate childproof packaging (although I understand why it's needed). Unfortunately, it's often adultproof too. And hey, nice looking herb garden!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful socks. Happy Gardening!
ReplyDeleteUnhappy bottle caps! Child proof includes elderly proof as well. Mouthwash cap has to be pressed down, and then the two side textures pinched as I twist. A person practically needs an engineering degree to open the thing. And juice! I have to very carefully slice the cap attachments in order to open the plastic cap. If an old person is found on the floor bleeding out with a juice bottle in their hand, guess what happened.
I enjoy seeing all those herbs. I can't wait to be able to do some planting, these days I do everything in containers. The socks look comfy. You sure showed that bottle cap! I had soup today, too. Yours looks better,
ReplyDeletethe irony of childproof packaging is that kids can open this stuff, and adults can't. Give any four year old a childproof bottle and watch how he approaches it. He pushes down hard, hard, and turnnnnns itttt...
ReplyDeleteI had one bleach bottle here that was so locked in I got a hand saw and cut the damned top off, then transferred the contents to an empty bottle.
I have visions of being found, as Sally says, unconscious with a nasty bruise and a still tightly closed gallon bleach bottle beside me, dented but whole.
my other favorite is the pale grey on cream warning labels that remind us not to take this medicine with caffeine, or store it in a warm place, do not let children take this, etc etc...all of this in 1 pt type, just the right size for failing eyes to see, yep.
I always struggle with those pinch and twist bottles. Sometimes I just give up.
ReplyDeleteI've never has to disfigure a bottle cap that badly, but I understand the frustration. I have a pair of pliers with jaws that widen. They generally do the job, disfiguring the cap for its life time, but coming off. It's generally mouthwash bottles that have immobile lids.
ReplyDeleteThe slip joint pliers, the kind you mean, were what I was using. But this time they were unavailing. Usually they're the answer. But this batch of bottles has a flaw. The prong things are usually blunt so the cap can clear them. These are sharp and too long. I could probably file them down to make them work if I felt like it at this point. I may just buy a different brand next time
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely spot for the herb garden. Well done, and the socks too.
ReplyDeleteChris from Boise
I bet the herb garden looks lovely by the gate. Those childproof caps can be such a headache and usually most children can open them. That is a beautiful selection of socks you've made. Someone will be very happy to receive them!
ReplyDeleteThose caps are the worst, and that one must have been particularly bad! It sounds like your landscapers are out of control.
ReplyDeleteIt's a constant battle with landscapers, since the board tends to cheap out on contracts, not wanting to pay what real landscapers cost. Instead we have people slashing down established plants, including flower beds, with machines designed for felling trees. We've all had the experience of physically stopping them from slashing houseplants in pots, even, nothing to do with the landscape! After I screamed at them about the thyme plant, which was in a container, they got scared of me and don't touch my plantings! I've established myself as a scary old lady, worse even than their grandma!
ReplyDelete