Every Thursday we like to post a picture of something we've found online that inspires us to do something similar at the farm. Sort of our own blog bulletin board so that we can eventually look back and someday, hopefully anyway, recreate it...enjoy!
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| Herbs in barrels, image via Pinterest |
We've been tossing around the idea of growing some medicinal herbs, starting an herb garden that focuses on that. We don't really want to put in in the vegetable garden, just so we can keep them together in another area. We have to use raised beds for most things like vegetables and herbs because of our soil and so when we saw this, we though, hmm, it has potential. Lots of area to plant, we could line them up next to the house so we'd have them close by for watering, etc. They could even fill a flower bed and take the place of planting IN the flowerbed.
Be inspired!
Awesome. I plant all my herbs in containers of some sort. I do like the whiskey barrels but like the plastic ones so much better as the heavy plastic doesn't rot like the wooden ones.
ReplyDeletePainted galvanized tubs / containers are also nice for planting in.
I like the look of the whiskey barrels too. I unfortunately left mine unfinished and stored one winter and the wood dried out, the metal rings slipped down and I found a flat barrel the next spring, LOL!
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely sight, and a great way to grow herbs. However, here's another way to look at it. Herbs are a very powerful plant, wherever they're planted. I used to plant mine all together in a separate bed, but realized that I'm wasting the marvelous influence of those garden friends. They have such a strong scent, that when you plant them close to a plant that the leaf eaters are looking for, they can't find their prey plant to eat! Planting basil next to tomatoes, not only wards off tomato worms, somehow planting the two together actually makes the tomatoes taste better! Herb flowers are some very powerful pollinator attractors too, so they draw in the bees to pollinate your veggie plants. I now plant a few herbs, chives, oregano and basil, right outside my kitchen door. The rest of the herbs are scattered around, under and between the vegetable plants in my garden, so my plants are happier, better yielding, have fewer weeds since the herbs shade some of the weeds out, and that before dinner survey of the garden lets me pick the veggies and the herbs, all at once. Even for the herbs I keep confined to pots, like mint and lemon balm, are set into the beds near the other plants to keep everyone happier.
ReplyDeleteSuch good ideas! I had never thought about planting herbs along with my garden. I have always planted them in containers. Thank you for sharing.
DeleteThat would be great for having a Kitchen Herb Garden next to the house. You could deeply mulch a flower bed to keep out the grass and then put these barrels of herbs in it. It would look and smell so nice and you could easily use it and enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI plant parsley, mint, and some others in pots on my front porch so I can easily access them when I am cooking. I have chives and some shallots at my back door for the same reason.
I am not a fan of barrels. I much prefer the oval-ish metal planters you showed several years ago. However, if whiskey barrels are your preference, I do like the fact they can be moved. Karren has good ideas.
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