Herb Garden Update

This is the third season of my herb garden.  Many of the plants have survived but I had a few casualties.  My garden map got better looking over the years as well.  This is the first years plan with comments.  I use the abbreviations (p) for perennial, (a) for annual, (tp) for tender perennial and (bi) for biennial.  I also mark the plants that need to be covered in the winter.

Last year's plan took on some colour.  I have added comments or reminders in each square.  Many of the annuals reseed themselves each year.

Here is this year's plan with a few changes.  I have added a few more flower seeds as I wanted to keep track of them and didn't want them in my flower beds that need overhauling.

I will describe the herb garden beds clockwise from the upper left corner.

Here is the first square of my herbs.  It contains apricot coloured poppy seed I was gifted (they are coming in spotty due to chickens), chives (a perennial that I already removed the flowers so it wouldn't reseed all over), basil (an annual that I start from seed in the house and transplanted when weather is frost-free), and thyme (a perennial woody shrub-type plant).

The second square contains sage (p) just getting ready to bloom, Nicotina (a) that self-seeded but was chicken scratched so I planted a few basil plants, spearmint (p) and fennel (a new annual that I was going to try but again I had a couple of bad girls who would get out and scratch up the herb beds.  I may have a couple of fennel plants that survived).

The top left is Lavender Bergamot (p) that gets quite tall, Oregano (tp) that is doing wonderfully, a package of mixed seeds called Pollinator Blend that is (a), (p) and (bi) and is supposed to attract bees and butterflies, and lastly my Greek Oregano (tp) that is doing poorly.  In fact, it looks like the regular oregano has dropped seeds there that I will let say to fill up the square.

My lavender (p) is doing very nicely, the dill (a) continues to reseed itself and had given me several crops last year, my Lady Lavender plant died so I seeded light purple poppies in its place, and finally my beloved Chocolate Mint (p) that makes wonderful tea.  Last year I cut it back to dry several times as the tea was in demand to anyone who tried it.

This thyme bush (p) did not winter as well as my other one so may need to be replaced, the Lemon Bergamot (tp) is sharing its section with red poppies I seeded, my garlic chives (p) are not as robust as the regular chives and have not yet bloomed, the last section contains marjoram (tp) that looks very sad indeed.

My Evening Scented Stocks (a) reseeded quite well but were disturbed by chickens so I added plants started from seed indoors, the peppermint (p) is doing great, I started the Parsley (bi) indoors and transplanted them outside, a second section of evening scented stocks (they smell heavenly when I pass by to shut the chickens in for the night.

Here is a view of the whole herb garden looking north.

And here is the view looking south. 

I do not use all the herbs but I enjoy all the different scents, colours and textures of the plants.  I love to pass through the herbs on my way to the rest of the garden or to the chicken coop and be able to stop and pinch off a leaf and sniff.