When I returned home from the farmers' market after lunch, I brought a big pot of daylilies that a lady had given me. She was dropping them off at the market for anybody, but I said, "Oo Oo! I'll take them!"
So Adam put the tiller to good use again and dug up a bed. We planted those tall lilies along with some shorter ones a friend gave me in the spring. Then Adam dragged a pile of mulch (dried hay, basically) from the field, and we covered them up.
Since we were already dirty, and all the correct tools were at hand, I asked if we could also dig an herb bed and put all my potted herbs in the ground. And we did.
Adam is the man-with-the-plan. I don't have to make any decisions about where things go; he's already got it all in his head where everything will be planted in the house-yard. We want to eliminate grass/lawn as much as possible, and turn most of the ground into veggies, herbs, or flowers.
Some of these herbs I'd been tending in pots since the spring. But some of them I've had in pots for
many years. The oregano, I know for a fact, was over-wintered at my parents' house in the NC mountains long ago ... I think after we moved from Prattville, AL, so about 2004.
And finally, it goes in the ground.
Again, Adam covered all with mulch.
I have a rosemarry in the foreground. Then 3 oregano clumps, one of chives, one tarragon, one basil, one sage, one rather dead thyme that I hope recovers, and two old mint clumps. At least I'm not starting from scratch (especially this time of year, which would be bizarre), and they are well established. The basil, of course, won't last past the frost.
The grass clumps that we dug out of these beds will go back into the field and dry and become mulch for later use.
So -- if you stand at the bottom of the ramp from the back deck and look toward the road, the herb bed is there between that crepe myrtle and the fence. It's the sunniest part of our yard.
And if you stand at the bottom of the ramp and look over to the out-building, the daylily bed is right there in you path.
We have a LOT of yard to convert to useful things, but we have now begun! We are quite thankful for the tiller. It made these beds so much easier.
Are you going to put some kind of barrier in the ground to contain your mint plants? It seems like my oregano (years ago) also had the habit of running rampant. It will be fun to get to know their habits. What a great start!
ReplyDeleteThat's fun! You've got a lot of cool stuff happening, MK!
ReplyDeleteTwo beds in one day, that's forward progress for sure. Just wait til spring. :-)
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful week ~ FlowerLady
AHHHHH, a tiller! Fortunate you, it makes short work of beds. I've been reading about straw bale gardens and think I'll try that next year. I'm so over a hoe, so to speak.
ReplyDeletelol
wow, you two are impressive! I feel positively lazy, sitting here reading, while you're doing all this farm work. What satisfying work, though. I read about the bees totally ignoring the GMO corn, very interesting.
ReplyDeleteAnd it certainly looks like heaven there for your dogs.
It sure is fun watching you two doing all that work! Your rewards will be great.
ReplyDeleteSo....is this "winter wheat" that Adam will be planting in Oct.? That's what we call it out here. Then spring wheat is sown in the spring, of course. It'll be fun to see how it all comes along. Nice that you have an herb garden. How long will it produce there? Through winter? Or not?