Monday 13 July 2020

Random Ramblings :: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme

Hi there everyone 😀

Well we actually managed a full day with no rain this week ... we even had sunshine 🌞
We were definitely overdue a day in the garden and we started off with a project which has been lingering a while and it was good to get it finished off.

Doing most of our cooking from scratch we use a lot of fresh herbs and there is pretty much always a pot or two of supermarket coriander, parsley or basil on the kitchen windowsill.

We have always had rosemary and mint in pots by the kitchen door ...
... and two bay trees, which do really well out front ...
... but we've have never really tried growing much else herb wise.

This year with lockdown giving us plenty of time to spend in the garden and a renewed interest in growing our own we decided to give growing our own herbs a go.

I started off with parsley ... from seed back at the beginning of April and it's doing really well ...
We've already chopped the smaller one once and it's growing back lovely.

We've also shared seeds with Jackie & Phil and had a go at thyme, sage, tarragon, chives, oregano and dill ... with mixed results ...

The sage isn't doing too bad, though still looks a little flimsy ...
The tarragon looks ok, but I have to be honest ... we've used it once and it tasted pretty much like lettuce, which was little odd ...
The first attempt at chives just didn't come up at all, but we bought some more seeds and whilst we haven't yet got anything usable, we do have some very fine growth ...
We are not overly impressed with the dill, which is a bit of a disappointment ...
... and we've not had much look with the thyme either ... having tried to prick out and pot some on a couple of times we have all but given up with this ...
As well as growing from seed we've had a go at taking cuttings too ... starting with some supermarket mint, that wasn't even bought as a growing herb. We just stuck it in a glass of water and roots appeared so we potted a few sprigs and it's doing really well ...
The other thing we've tried taking cuttings from is a supermarket basil. I watched a YouTube video where someone had done this and basically grown loads of basil from one supermarket plant. We weren't that ambitious as our growing conditions are not ideal but I did take three cuttings from our supermarket plant that we bought a month or so ago and again, these rooted really quickly and are now doing really well ...
We've also planted basil from seed and it's doing well but is ready for splitting ...
I have now set myself an objective of not buying any more basil this season and have gone back to our original plant and I split it into three. Two of the three are doing really well and I think it's time to take more cuttings ...
There was a mass of pots of herbs accumulating on the arbour and I wasn’t sure what to do with them all ... I was wary of putting them totally outside, with no protection at all, as they seemed to be doing well where they were, getting a little bit of shelter from the wind and rain and being out of the heat of direct sunlight.

Martin ended up making me a shallow box that to hold the full collection ... in pots ... 
We've lined it with an old compost bag, so we can water without the water dripping through onto the arbour, where it fits a treat ...
You may be wondering why I didn't plant directly into the box ... well I did think about this but decided it would be handy to stop plants taking over ... like mint. It would also give the chance for me to take things out and replace if they are not doing too well. 

I love it ... it may be a little bit rustic ... but it's my very own herb box ... just like the chefs on the telly have 😂😂😂

In other gardening news we have emptied the strawberry bed and topped up the soil levels with some fresh compost and re-planted 30 of the 100 strawberry plants that we found in there ... all of these came from 3 originals, so definitely value for money. I'm currently trying to re-house the excess ...
There has been a bit more harvesting. Our first tiny, but very tasty, spring onions ...
And I think it's been the best year ever for the Morello cherry ... we have more jam making on the cards for tomorrow ...
After watching the cabbage white butterflies fluttering around the cauliflower and broccoli when we were in the garden we took a leaf out of Monty's book and found some netting ...
... and the blueberry with it's laden branches currently looks like a big white ghost as we've had to cover it with fleece to try and stop the birds from feasting.

Not sure what our next project will be out back but it's kind of comforting knowing that whatever the World is throwing at us things just keep on moving ... from strawberries in June, to cherries in July, followed by blueberries in August 😀

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2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you Elena ... it’s a lot of work but gives us so much back in so many ways 😃

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