My Great Herbal Experiment, Year 2

So last year, I did some math in the late spring and realized how much money I was spending on fresh herbs at the local grocery. The herbs themselves weren’t necessarily bad, but the fact that I would forget about that Basil in the crisper drawer after using two leaves until it started to go bad just bugged me.

So I started the herb garden. Nothing extensive, about a 5’ by 8’ plot in an existing garden. I cleared out the existing bulbs from that area, bought the seeds and then went to talk to my neighbor. His daughter has quite the green thumb, and with mine being not so tinted, I worked out a deal with her. She helped plant, weed and water, and I paid her (yeah, I’m the real hands on type ; ).

She did a great job. I had a ton of stuff out there: about 6 varieties of tomato, basil, parsley, lavender, sage, multiple oreganos and basils, a few chives and a couple of transplanted bits like mint and pepperoncini.

The wins:

Basil, Oregano and Chives whenever I wanted them. This was great and led to my ruining of omelets for my wife since she will now only eat them with the fresh herbs. I do love Sundays in the summer!

Introduction to a couple of new items I hadn’t tried before: Dark Opal Basil (a bit more bitter than the sweet, but makes a fantastic dark pesto), and lime thyme (aside from the rhyming, it was pretty tasty on chicken – just a hint of the citrus).
One Pepperoncini – stuffed with a garlic cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. A small appetizer (especially if you know me) but a decent victory in my book.

The Losses:

Deer: Those antlered fiends got to every one of my tomato plants eating everything that popped up. In doing so, they also trampled a number of other items getting to their juicy treats.

Squirrels: I’ll show you deer! I’ll move the pepperoncini up to my deck! Ah…huh? Who knew that squirrels apparently like a little kick. They got all but the one delicious specimen. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t caught one of the little buggers red-pawed. I’m pretty sure I heard it laughing at me as it left.

Lessons Learned:

So here we are in year 2 of the Great Herbal Experiment. I’ve made some changes – here is a list of things I’ve modified.

1. Much larger area – everything was haphazardly placed last year due to space constraints. My fault, not the neighbors. Tripling the area should help that.


2. Fencing – I hit the local Home Depot and got stakes, wire fencing, the whole works. That should keep those deer away.


3. Careful seed selection – Based on our eating habits, ease of growth, and unused pieces from last year, here’s the list of what made the cut this year
   a. Tomato – 5 varieties
   b. Sweet Peppers – 2 types
   c. Hot Peppers – a bunch of these
   d. Basil – about 3 times as much as last year
   e. Oregano – the same
   f. Chives – these I actually left outside the fenced areas – never really bothered last year
   g. Sage – 2 packs
   h. Parsley – used a ton of this last year
   i. Scallions/Green Onions – always good to have on hand
   j. Rosemary – We eat a lot of chicken
   k. Cilantro – I’ve got killer Chicken Salad, Guacamole and Corn Salsa recipes
   l. Peas – Last minute suggestion from the other neighbor as they will grow up the fencing.
   m. Sunflowers – No, not to eat. My daughter just wanted them, and she’s pretty cute.


4. Arrangement - This year I took the time to lay out the pattern I wanted.


5. Earlier planting – I waited until late May last year. This time, we’re in the ground in mid April after that last cold snap we had.


6. Marked Locations – I did a bit of this last year, but it was more “in this area” rather than the straight lined, staked markers I’m using this year.


7. Miracle Grow – Really didn’t use any fertilizers last year. But my neighbor swears by the stuff. We’ll see how it works out.


8. The kids are involved. This is kinda the fun part for me. I got them some small starter pots and now they are watching to see when things start coming up. It’s a mess, but a good learning opportunity for the young’uns.
   

I’ll post updates as I get them! Wish me luck – and please post any suggestions that you have for success!