Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Circle Garden

I didn't really have anything to do in the garden yesterday. Or at least I had forgotten all the chores I had. I do that sometimes. One day I'll have a really long list of things to do in my head. The next day it is all gone. But I went out to weed the whole of the veggie garden and rock wall garden. When I got to the circle garden it popped back into my head what I needed to do.

The herbs in the center were getting a bit over run with one another. I wanted to buy some bricks and separate the herbs. Then I could tell where to keep them chopped off so they don't intermingle as much. I don't want one to take over the other. Last year the center was planted with seven different herbs, but the sage had died. I have two other sages around the yard. I thought about replanting one of those in here, but decided that it was best to just have six. The herbs had mostly spread. Well three of them had. So I needed to transplant things so they were all evenly spaced around the circle.

The one plant I didn't want to move at all was the rosemary. So that one stayed in the same spot. Then I put marks in the soil to tell me what were the spots for the plants. I moved the French thyme to the other side close to where the sage had been. Then I cut back the Greek oregano and English thyme so they didn't go out of their sections. They weren't centered by any means, but they will grow into it. They are both spreaders.

Then I dealt with my two chives.

The garlic chives above I split into three. The plant hadn't spread all that much. So I wanted it to have three sections and fill the spot up by the end of the year. I just put my shovel down through the roots of the plant. Chives are hardy things. It ought to recover.

The regular chives seemed to be spreading more. I just hacked off a small part and put it to the middle of the circle. I think the chives will spread enough. I hope so.

The circle looks messy right now. I don't have the bricks to separate the sections yet. I want to get those today and finish. I once tried separating my herbs with bricks before. I didn't like it since it made the soil too dry. I'm really hoping the sections are large enough for that not to be an issue. If it is I'll pout and try something else.

Oh and do you see the little wooden sculpture? I bought that when I was in Hawaii over a decade ago. He is Lono, the god of agriculture. I thought it fitting for him to live in my garden.

10 comments:

  1. You gave me a great idea Daph, Im going to divide my clump of chives and make it into a row along the garden fence, they are so dense they will keep the grass and weed from entering the garden!

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    1. I did that once at my last garden. I think they make really pretty borders.

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  2. Beautiful! How did you get rosemary to over winter? It dies on me every year. I guess we did have a mild winter though.

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    1. I have two rosemarys that are hardy to zone 7 and sometimes 6. I'm hoping those two overwinter every year. But last year I only got down to 5F which IS zone 7. So they were fine. Though there was some stem die off. I think in the future I'm going to put some kind of cover on them to protect them from the wind. It can get pretty bad here sometimes. The other is Tuscan Blue which is only hardy to zone 8. I think it survived because it is planted right next to the foundation. It adds a lot of heat to both the air and the soil.

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  3. Replies
    1. I'm sure he will over time. But the artist that sold it to me said that it was made of a rot resistant wood. I forgot what it was. Some tropical wood that grows in Hawaii I'm sure. So I expect him to be with me for a long time. I ought to at least keep him out of the soil, but sadly I put him right in the dirt.

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  4. Hi! Your herb circle is starting to look good. I have thyme that looks like that. Should I cut it back? I just started a gardening blog too. Come take a peek if you like. Nancy http://cozythymecottage.blogspot.com/

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  5. You don't have to, but if you want to harvest and dry some it is a good time to do it.

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  6. I've had huge problems with black aphids (at least I think thats what they are) eating my chives and garlic chives this year - very frustrating. Otherwise my herbs are doing great, but not nearly as beautifully laid out as your circle.

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  7. That is a charming little herb garden and I think the rearranging is going to give it a nice balance and feel going forward. Hopefully, the separation of plants will end up working okay for you.

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