Herb Bed Cleaned Up! It’s the 1st of May and I hope it’s not going to snow again this season!
This was my Herb Garden before I gave it it’s final haircut, let nature take care of it’s winter covering and let it go to sleep for the winter last fall.
We live on the last road on the east side of town before the ravine and creek. So, many of the town’s leaves end up in our yard. It makes for a long and laborious leave cleanup in the fall, though I use this to my advantage for a natural mulch for my garden beds, especially my herb garden. The herb garden is in front of the workshop (which is legally described as a garage, but a truck can’t fit in without letting the air out of the tires, so it’s our workshop). Many leaves just blow naturally and end up in this bed. I leave them there! Until I can see them trying to grow through the thick layers of leaves in the spring. It’s time!
In the spring, when the last of the snow has been seen (hopefully!), I don my gardening gloves, grab my rake and snippers and get cleaning!
I love that handy little rake! I found it about 5 years ago and cherish it every time I use it! You can release the lever to make it very small or let it all the way out like here. It works wonderfully for cleaning out beds to get up and around the flowers or bushes.
I am surrounded by maple and bitternut trees. They love to grow every where! I hunker down and pull every single one of them out.
There! All cleaned up, woke up and ready for another season of producing wonderful herbs! I’ll be adding parsley, basil, rosemary, maybe some lemon balm. I’m also going to bury a pot of mint, hoping to contain it.
My thyme, oregano, chives and sage come back every year. Beneath all of the winter covers, they’ve been growing!
Thyme
Oregano
Chives
Sage
It’s time for a hair cut already! I cut my chives back to 2-3 inches tall–they’ll keep regrowing and regrowing, giving us lots of fresh chives throughout the season.
I have that rake, too. It’s great, isn’t it? Very versatile. Great work on the herb bed!
Is the oregano “root bound” so to speak? I’m trying to clean up the bed my daughter started (then moved away to grad school) and it is so clumpy and thick I can’t pull anything apart. Help?
It took over everything again! Get a shovel and dig it up! Give it away, put it on a hill to take over the hillside. Oregano is like a weed…an overbearing weed. If you leave a few in the bed, they will give you lots of oregano for the year, and will repopulate.