Herb garden

A continuation of last year's transplant of some herbs from seedlings, to pots, to the north side of our flower bed. I've been closely monitoring these herbs to watch their regrowth and their current season growth. Logged (and edited over time) here to note the progression. (Note: the 3ft basil from last year died out over the winter, and given its ability to take over combined with our lack of interest in using it much, I opted to not replace it.)

April 10th 2013 - the first few signs of returning life after a mild winter

LtoR: lemonbalm, rosemary, spearmint, white sage

May 1st 2013 - fully engaged growth season with regular watering 

LtoR: lemonbalm, rosemary, white sage, spearmint 

(and monkey grass at the stone border in front)

This area gets about 30% sun on any given day, particularly in the middle afternoon. It is surrounded by shrubbery established prior to our purchasing the property but this area itself was barren. I installed a Mister Landscaper (black pvc and green hoses) above ground sprinkler system last year to keep everything alive in these hot TN summers and move it around as needed.
Overall, the herbs seem pretty happy here, despite the largely red clay soil underneath a heavy layer of black mulch. I will continue to try to stake them and keep them contained as I am very aware of how easily rosemary, sage, and mint will take over any area if left on their own. ;)

Trellis Tower, completion

There were several severe storms, class days, work days & nights, and a million other things stalling out the completion of this project that began a week or 2 ago. As of yesterday, it is completed. Horay!

INSTALLATION: 2 diagonal rebar stakes add stability to the trellis tower 

(a piece I bought on clearance almost a year ago from my favorite garden shop downtown) 

INSTALLATION: set the perimeter of the bed with 56 retaining wall blocks & fill with 12cuft of topsoil

Unfortunately it seems somewhat necessary to leave it at a 2 block height for monetary reasons 

(and they've discontinued these blocks at Lowes so finding another full ring of 28 is not possible locally)

VINE: I found a lovely vine for the trellis - Silver Bells Chocolate Vine (aka: 5-leaf Akebia),

according to my consultant it should withstand the TN summer sun & grow fast

COMPLETE: finished off the project with more soil, mulch, Jethro Tull Coreposis, and the vine. 

Still giving some thought to adding in some more shorter perennials but that can be done whenever. 

The vine was placed on the backside of the bed because it's not entirely centered around the tree stump/root structure, leaving more space on the back. The only way to completely center it would be to have the stump ground down completely, which would cost me the trellis platform (not what I wanted here). 

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the transformation of this space and it's SUCH a vast improvement over how it was before... 100x better than the eyesore below. This area is in direct view of our garage where we like to chill and hang out away from the brutal sun's rays. It's nice to actually enjoy the view again. 

B E F O R E 

(2012)

Horay for chainsaws, determination, and time off to do this myself! :)