Sage, rosemary, thyme & lemon verbena …

 I shared the renewal of the herb planters & after emptying & repotting the herbs,  repotting the herb troughs this past week.

 I made a list of the missing ones that I need to add to the re-done troughs. There are 5 matching troughs but one that is tucked behind the bush contains the lemon balm & mints that have taken it over. I must still repot that one …

The previous sage & rosemary were past their best, too woody to be useful so I headed to our local plant nursery to find replacements. There was so much choice that it took ages to decide.  

There was a good selection & I selected 2 new thymes to go with the ones I already had. They have their own trough. Their tiny fragrant leaves are very useful & I should use more of them too in cooking.  

I thought a purple sage would be a nice change, along with just a normal one. 

And additional clump of chives joins the re-potted one because it is such a useful addition to summer salads, especially snipped in to potato salad. 

My favourite herb has to be the highly fragrant lemon verbena.  

I bought two because I often add the little leaves to cakes, cool water, baking bits because that it imparts that fantastic flavour. 

I was gifted a herb scissors a few years ago & the multiple sharp blades are essential with a good herb garden. 

I added a spearmint to my selection of mints & it joins the unusual berries & cream I potted up last week. 

New potatoes, peas,  lamb, jugs of water are all improved by adding mint or lemon balm that has taken over the original mint trough & I have potted the new mints in a second trough. 

I must make some mint sauce this year to tide me over winter when they die down. It was something Olive always did at the end of summer - jars of highly fragrant mint sauce to go with lamb dishes, new potatoes or peas. It is simple to make & delicious to eat. 

However, the local squirrels have taken to digging in the herb planters & this needed to be discouraged. 

I bought some bamboo canes that were about 120cm long & cut 3 for each trough length.

The cut off pieces is long enough to use as a support each side to hold the 3 lengths in a grid shape with the third shorter piece in the middle. I used green cable ties to secure the bamboo grids, it was quicker than cutting lengths of wire to do it. 

The grid rests on each trough & will hopefully discourage foraging in the troughs with the tasty herbs. I still need to trim the cable ties to neaten them up. 

The 3 tomato plants have been growing on in the covered  patio troughs against the house but they are now ready for transplanting because the risk of frost has passed. 

They are planted in a grow bag next to the conservatory where it is sheltered & warm. 

I made a basic support frame for them too with bamboo canes. They like this spot where it is not too windy as they are in a side return & close to the water butt for watering too. 

Some years are better than others for homegrown tomatoes, I am just doing 3 plants this year.

The essential herbs will be well used for years & the tomatoes are always a bit of battle of wills to get them to mature & fruit. 

I know, it is cheaper to buy some tomatoes but it is a summer tradition. 

What herbs are essential to your cooking? Tell all ..  

Thank you for stopping by, always appreciated 

Dee 🌱🪏🏡🫜🧑‍🌾

Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme ...

 The familiar list of herbs from the song Scarborough Fair always comes to mind when I am busy with my herb troughs. 

When looking back on previous blog posts about my herbs, I realised that I last redid these herb planters completely in 2017 so it was long overdue to empty them & refresh. 

The planters are on a raised area between my neighbour & us - there is a service pipe that is on the raised bit hence the need for loose planters to access it if needed. The other advantage is that being used for cooking, the herbs need to be out of the way of visiting dogs etc so this space works well. The side return contains out many bins & recycling bins so it is the 'working side' of our house. 

I eased out the pot bound herbs I wanted from each trough. For some reason the planters had a wild violet that had taken over in them & as nice as the little violet flowers are, they are not herbs. Once the herbs were out, the root bound remainders & the soil was popped on a garden bed by the bird feeder where it will break down & I do not mind if the violets take root there. 

I put a generous layer of leaf mould from our own tree in each trough before adding fresh potting soil to each. The two 60L bags were soon gone on the 4 troughs - it is deceptive how much soil each one takes. 

The herbs were then replanted again & 2 new ones added - a new mint & a bronze fennel. 

I did not empty out the 5th planter with the mint / lemon balm planter because I had used up all 120L of potting soil on the other 4. However, having space with emptying & repotting, I used one of the other troughs as a second one for mint. I bought a strawberries & cream mint at the local market last week - I wonder what it will taste like? It will be nice in mint tea or on stewed fruit ... 

I was gifted this lovely set of ceramic herb labels by daughter, made by a potter in her village, & they are a perfect reminder of the most used herbs. 

It is a good time to buy in the ones that are missing - my sage had become woody & so had the rosemary; However, they are moved to the garden where they will hopefully continue to do their thing. 

I will buy in a replacement sage plant; I have 2 rosemary plants I grew last winter from cuttings so they are in the refreshed planters. 

I might relocate my lemon grass from the conservatory to the troughs for summer. It was grown from the base of a supermarket lemon grass used in cooking. 

Which herbs are essential to your gardening & cooking? Inspire me please as I will be looking for some additional ones. 

Thank you for stopping by, it is always appreciated. 

Dee 🥗🪴🌱🫚

UPDATED with additional herb planting