Have I mentioned I love plants? That I want to grow food, gardens, and plants year long? How I want to plant once and all plants will grow year after year? I live in Canada. Garden Zone 5B. I had no idea perennial herbs were an option in my garden zone. It turns out there are quite a few. Alas, not the best herb in the world – basil. But there are A LOT. A quick Google search brought up a list that surprised me: Lavender, Chives, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Tarragon, Mint, Chamomile, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley, and more.
I don’t know how accurate this list is as I was told at the greenhouse I bought the dill from, that dill was an annual. Maybe there are different kinds of dill? Some more winter hardy? Plants are expensive and I don’t want to spend a lot of money every year on tons of plants. I get perennials. Plant once and you’re good to go – set it and forget it. I have tried planting indoor herbs, I am not an attentive enough gardener to keep indoor herbs alive. These plants do much better for me outdoors.
It was time to build a herb garden! I went to Home Hardware and managed to get a great price on end cuts of cedar. The wood was tall enough that I would only need to make it one board high, but not very long, so I built two herb gardens side by side.
It was hot as balls out and I had to level out the ground before I could fill it with dirt. I used newspaper and cardboard to help with future weeds. These gardens aren’t held in place with stakes and don’t have a bottom. I haven’t had them long enough to know if a storm, or heavy rain will make all the soil leak out the bottom, or if Winter will shift them out of place. For now they are doing fine.
I have filled them with a combination of herbs and seeds:
-Oregano
-Sage
-Thyme
-Chives
-Tarragon
-Chamomile
-Fennel
-Dill
-Parsley
-Basil
I didn’t have enough plants and seeds to completely fill the herb garden, so I added some other plants that I like to call grocery store gardening. My mango tree was doing really poorly in the flower garden and I replanted it here (right side garden on the front far right). I’m hoping it perks up. I’d be so sad if it died, it’s on its second season. I planted a ton of lemon seeds, a couple blueberries, and kumato tomatoes. There’s a bit more space to add more. I’m torn between rosemary and cilantro. I can get cilantro for $0.99 at the grocery store right now – that likely is the deciding factor!
Are these truly perennials? Time will tell. If you want to see the garden being made in a video, it will be posted below:
Lobster Shorts 