Making an Herb Garden – Herbaceous Goodness (Part IV)
And then there were herbs…
With the rocks in place, the next step was to start building up the soil. I dug a hole and filled it up twice with water to check drainage and found that it wasn’t as bad as we thought it might be. Still, we dug about a foot down into the earth to break up the soil, then built it up with soil from some of the wonderful soil/manure/straw/rice hulls piles we have decomposing on the farm. Once we declared the beds ready, it was finally time to add some herbs! The seeds we had planted in the nursery were still too small to survive the intense heat and harsh conditions outside, so we chose some more mature plants from the nursery as well as a few that we transplanted from elsewhere on the farm. Rachel picked one of the beds for her chickpeas and I added a few of the Brazilian Spinach plants at Julito’s suggestion, then we wrapped it up with a ring of garlic around the outside to deter insects. And, voila! A beautiful garden that is already producing delectable herbs.
Part I – Introduction
Part II – The Design Part
Part III – Rocks Placement