Polvero’s Blog

 

 

There’s nothing I like more than adding spices to my food. When I was younger, I went on a trip to the United Kingdom to visit with some of my relatives over there. I was shocked by how bland British food is. It’s not like we, Americans, eat a lot of spicy food, but I do love adding seasoning to everything I prepare on a regular basis. As such, I’ve thought about making my own fragrant herb garden.

The fact is that you can use your imagination and plant everything you’d like. Some people might enjoy opening their windows in the morning to the smell of chamomile whereas others such as myself would much more enjoy the scent of lavender, for example. The sky’s the limit when it comes to scented herbs. You can choose anything from basil and catnip to feverfew, lemon balm, and even mint.

If you want to combine business with pleasure, a good idea would be to go for scented geraniums. While they are incapable of flowing just as beautifully as their typical counterparts, these smell way nicer than the latter. The neat thing about them is that you can go to a store and get some that smell like ginger, orange, strawberry, rose, and even peppermint. Every time you touch them, they release their scent and believe me when I say that it’s breathtaking.

 

If you’re more into exotic herbs, you can plant some nice lemon verbena, thyme, or oregano. The last is used in a variety of Italian and Greek dishes, so if you’re into this type of Mediterranean cuisine, I strongly recommend planting some oregano. You can use it for anything ranging from salad dressings to tomato sauce and even pizza. I have friends who buy pizza seasoning, for instance, and I consider it a waste of good money as you can make your own at home.

 

Sure, it might not turn out perfect because you still have to buy some dried herbs from the store, especially as not all can grow in the climate you might be living in. It’s still a good idea to at least plant some rosemary, oregano, and thyme so that you can use them as you please.

 

Unless you plan to use the seeds for a future batch in your herb garden, I would recommend cutting their tops. The flower can drain the plant from precious nutrients, so once you cut it, it can focus on delivering all the juice and energy to the leaves. After all, that’s what you will need for your kitchen specialties; the leaves, not the flowers.

Consider your shade and the space of your herb garden before anything. Some of the plants that thrive in the shade are ginger, chives, parsley, mint, and lemon balm. The rest of those that I have mentioned grow better in the sun, especially lavender, for example.

 

 

Having a garden of my own has always been a dream that I had ever since childhood. However, it was only recently that I realized how easy it is to make my dream a reality. With little to no tools and effort, one can create his/her own garden in less than a day, without having to dig or remove turf. So, if you are interested in creating your own small patch garden, follow these easy steps.

First things first, you should start by choosing the place where you want to place it. My advice to you is to set your mind on a place with enough sun so that the plants you will be growing get enough light.

 

The next step involves buying the needed materials: lumber (the pressure-treated kind is the best), screw bolts (6 inches), landscape fabric (dimensions vary in accordance with the size of the garden you are building), topsoil, compost, and fertilizer. The tools you will need are a drilling press, a shovel, and an electrical screwdriver.

 

The first step you have to take is to use a drill press to make the necessary holes at the end of the pieces of lumber. Try to connect the four pieces of lumber in such a way as to create a perfectly rectangular or square shape (the shape varies depending on the size of the wood) and fix them by screwing the bolts in.

 

For the next stage of the process, you should place the now constructed bed in the place you want to set your new garden in. Once you’ve done this, use the landscape fabric to cover the interior ground of the rectangle/square bed. If you have troubles finding this kind of material, just use several layers of paper, this by itself should do the trick. By doing so, you will avoid having blades of grass growing, overspreading and disturbing the growth of your plants.

 

Then, fill in the bed evenly with topsoil. To do so, I suggest you use a shovel. Also, make sure you don’t fill the bed completely, try to leave about 6 inches to the top empty. Before finishing off, mix the fertilizer with the compost and add this composition as the final layer. Thanks to this last `coat`, your plants will have a rich soil where they can fully grow. Moreover, due to the landscape fabric used at the beginning, you won’t have to worry about having the soil penetrated by grass seeds, as the fabric acts as a barrier that kills the initial layer of grass on which your new garden is set. When you have completed this last step, you can start planting.

 

This is my simple recipe for building your own garden in just one afternoon. I hope you will find my directions useful; until next time, happy gardening!

 

 

Recently I found a short video which will give you a few tips on how to have the garden of your dreams.