Herb Garden Revamp

The herb tub outside the back door has been looking a bit sorry since winter. I must have forgotten to cut it back when I should have, and with everything beginning to grow again and the herbs now enjoying the sunshine, a few weeds were popping up.

So I gave it a trim, cutting out all the dead flower stems from last year, got rid of some old stuff, chucked in some new stuff, did a bit of rearranging, and now it's much tidier.

As well as the thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano and garlic chives that were there before, I moved a tarragon plant and a few chives in (and put all the garlic chives together in one place). In the other pots around it there are spring onions, newly-sown parsley and coriander, and a little pot of chives I've had going for a few years now.

And I scored a bunch of sage to dry for later use, too. It's easy to dry herbs - just hang them in a warm, airy place out of direct sun until they crumble easily.

I also took the opportunity to repot my 'Eau de Cologne' mint - not a culinary sort but reputedly good for keeping wasps and bugs away... and it smells good. And when I say repot, I mean take a teeny tiny little sideshoot like this...

...and replant it in a whole new pot of soil. It's that vigorous. Mint is really, really rampant, and the big pot I had this in before was completely rootbound after just two years. It only takes a little bit of root to make a new plant, so divide to your heart's content!

Can't wait to see how my herb garden looks when it's all in full growth in a month or two!

The allotment herb garden is in a sorry state too - the couch grass has crept in, as couch grass always does, and some of my hardiest herbs didn't make it through our mild winter! I don't get it! The rosemary and hyssop are both completely dead, and the Russian tarragon and one of the sages don't look too good either. On the plot, the herbs are mostly there for the benefit of the insects - it's no use relying on them for culinary use when they're a fifteen-minute drive away. But the insects are still a worthy cause, and in the name of companion planting and nurturing a healthy ecosystem, I will still replace them - I've ordered my new hyssops from Victoriana Nursery already.