Shortcut Garden

Gardening is a balm to the gardeners soul;
I can see why God started man out in one.


As inviting as gardening is,
the fun is lost when you're digging in soil that is hard as rock.


There is an easier way though.

A couple months back,

I wanted to ad an herb garden for fresh herbs.

I chose this spot down by the yellow bush,

as it gets good sunlight here,

but shady toward the late afternoon;

it's close to the house as well.

Beside,

I already have a flower garden here,

and it seems to be easy to keep from becoming overcome with weeds.

(Have you ever noticed that certain parts of the yard

are less weedy than others?)

After I'd saved up a few expired

and

farmer-approved trashable 

Lancaster Farming Papers,

I set a layer on the ground,

3 - 4 pages thick.

Next is the most important part:

I use well rotted manure.

I have seen at stores you can buy manure in bags,

but if you know any horse farmers,

they're usually happy to give away manure.

Just be sure it is well-rotted.

People use well-rotted compost for this layer as well.

I used cardboard where I knew I'd be setting a stone pathway.

After the manure, I had a nice big bag of peat moss

that I put on.

I put mulch on the walkway.

My waiting herbs...

got set around on the "garden"

to decide where I wanted to plant everything.

Then I planted them in the thin layer I had on top of the paper,

and made sure I watered them every other day or so

for the first week or two.

On the right side,

I made my herb garden.

On the left side,

I put some perennials and some herbs.

Then I set rocks down for my stepping stones

and hostas that can tolerate sun around the edges

(they don't look too good this year because it was one big hosta 

that I divided into lots of little plants,

but I know they'll look great next year).

I had this metal hook a friend made me...

but didn't have anything to hang on it.

Then I found this wall hanging at a yard sale for $1.

It had little metal circular shelves attached to the front

to hold candles.

I broke them off and placed it on my hook.

A layer of mulch was added to finish the weed protection...

and completed the look to the back part of the garden as well.

Eventually, I'll probably ad rocks all around,

maybe a low rock wall.

The herbs have thrived in the garden.

I love the smell of this lemon basil...

and this cinnamon basil.

There's just something about a handful of fresh cooking herbs.

they smell as fantastic as they look.

(My fingers smelled of fresh dill all night.

Heavenly.)

And there's nothing like a good laugh as I admire my fresh herbs

and prepare to make some

avocado dip

(which I will post tomorrow).

(The above gardening ideas above are just from my own from experience;

there are multitudes of great ideas in gardening.

If you have some,

please, feel free to ad yours in the comments

or ad a link to something you may have posted about gardening.

Gardeners never tire of hearing about gardening,

and I'd love to hear what you do!)

Linking up to these fun parties:

 
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