On Tuesday morning it was cold, low 30’s, so I lit a fire when I got up at 4AM. Then I got a lot of chores done and started washing trays for seed starting on Wednesday.
I also got the tray covers washed. I finished in time to sit down for ½ hour and then I went outside. By then the house was hot because the sun had come out. So I had doors open. I forgot about the old cat and caught her sneaking outside on the front porch. I had to shut the door.
This is the remains of the South Herb garden after 3 years of total neglect. My helper friend cut down the tall stuff last fall, but that’s all that has been done since 2019.
I worked from 11 to 4 with a break for lunch around 2PM and I finished cleaning it out.
There had been about 20 or 30 herbs left in it in 2019, but many succumbed to the weeds. I’m planning to replant ones I particularly liked like turtlehead. But I think I will also put in new plants that I don’t have. I think I am starting a few this year.
At the east end the thyme had mostly survived, the rose was just alive, the chives were very much smaller but still growing. The Joe Pye weed appeared to be gone and much of the sage had winter kill. A snowdrop had appeared and was flowering and next to it looks like it might be a crocus.
Against the foundation the mugwort was still thriving, not much kills that or the white sage in the pot next to it. In front by the leftmost marker is the peony and it had started to come up. Next to that had been the wormwood but I pulled that out. One huge wormwood is really enough and it’s in the New Herb garden. After that, there didn’t appear to be much that had survived.
The brown twigs appear to be something, but I can’t remember what. There were 2 clumps of them. This flowering almond appears to have survived well. In front of it is a chocolate mint, I think, in the pot. Beside it is bedstraw and that did ok. Something had dug up a huge amount of this area and partially covered the mint. This allowed it to send out roots all over. I hope I found them all…
There didn’t appear to be anything except the tiny remains of garlic chives until the west flowering almond. It didn’t look like it had survived as well, the bottom of the main branches are black.
In front of it was southernwood and that had done excellently. I had to prune it severely to get it back into the bed. The almond and the southernwood had been invaded by the meadowsweet. It didn’t appear to bother the southernwood, but I’m wondering if that’s the almond’s problem. I can’t really dig it out without hurting the almond’s roots. I’m hoping just keeping it cut down will kill it.
Against the foundation before the downspout and edging, the Russian tarragon is hanging on by a thread. It was also invaded by the meadowsweet. I once dug it up and removed the meadowsweet years ago, and it survived. I’m thinking of doing that again.
On the other side, in the triangle area there used to be a lilac with violets and lily of the valley around it. The lilac died a few years back and it looks like the weeds wiped out the violets. I did find a few lilies of the valley. I usually have no shortage of violets here, so might put some back in. I also dig up wayward lily of the valley in other beds, so can add them back too. I need to find a new patio block to replace the broken one.
I plan to put in a good amount of the bio-char compost and fill in the whole bed with the loam I have stockpiled. I will also feed all the plants. I hope to do this on Wednesday afternoon, after seed starting. But we will see how I am faring after all the time in the garden. I also need to map the garden but I did take notes when I finished.
The next garden to tackle is this one, the West Herb to halfway down, and then it becomes the West garden. It also has not been done since 2019.