Fruit and Herb Garden

I am working on a fruit and herb garden in my back yard. I used to have a huge vegetable garden (25 years ago!), and spent the entire months of August and September making preserves and blanching veggies for the winter. And I NEVER want to do that again. This one, though, makes me very happy.

This is my garden yesterday morning. The composter is the black thingy at the back on the left, and my hon made me a cedar obelisk as a focal point. The boards were salvaged from my neighbor's bonfire pile. They make the pathways so I don't get muddy feet and also prevent the soil from being compacted when weeding and watering.

Lily supervises nearby while enjoying a little bush salad of her own.

So, this garden contains only my favorite food plants:

6 different tomatoes
June and ever-bearing strawberries
daylilies to make salad (you can eat daylily flowers - they're delicious)
tea herbs: lemon verbena, peppermint, chocolate and ginger mints
cooking herbs: cilantro, basil, flat-leaf parsley, sage, chives, garlic

I was done the planting by mid-afternoon. Strawberries are in the right and left sections. Tomatoes and herbs are in the centre section. Each section measures about 4' x 20'. You can comfortably reach about 3' for weeding, so I can easily reach into each section from either side.

I planted a Dropmore Scarlet Climbing Honeysuckle in the centre of the obelisk. This hardy climbing vine will fill the entire structure within 3-4 years. The flowers are tubular, and they attract hummingbirds!

Today I'll begin to mulch the entire garden. Mulch will reduce the weeds, retain moisture, and prevent soil from splashing up on the berries and herbs.