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Creating Your Own Mediterranean Herb Garden©
By: Arlene Wright Correll
I do a lot of cooking with herbs and I do a lot of herb drying and herb blending so over the years I have grown various herbs.
I also like to go to Spain and Italy and just about any place in the Mediterranean and each time I return I am more impressed with the way they grow herbs over in that part of the world.
So about 4 years ago I decided I would create a Mediterranean Herb Garden. Now they come in all different sizes and shapes and designs, but mine is simply two long rows about 2 feet wide each and about 30 to 40 ft long.
The first thing I did was make sections in them with dividers that created areas about 4 feet between dividers. Prior to that I roto-tilled the soil and then added about 6 to 8 inches of white gravel that was about one half to 1 inch in diameter per stone. I think the gravel pit called it pea stone. I worked that gravel into the newly tilled soil.
The soil in the Mediterranean area where the herbs grow best is always very gravelly and the white stone holds in the heat.
Then I sowed my seeds, (just to name a few) English thyme, Greek oregano, Chocolate mint, Winter Savory, French Tarragon (which is short lived), Fennel, Catnip (which my daughter-in-law’s three cats seem to totally ignore as they go about raising havoc in every other part of the garden. My 40 foot row contains the perennial herbs and my 30 foot row contains about 15 feet or perennials and about 15 feet of annuals. Remember that even perennial herbs give out after a while and need to be replanted.
For some reason I never have had any luck with growing rosemary from seed so I always buy a nice healthy plant.
I planted many lavender plants that I started in my greenhouse, but they did not seem to make it to well. However, I have some big lavender bushes in the front of our home that are about 8 years old now.
Prior to creating this Mediterranean garden I had planted peppermint and spearmint in another part of my garden and rue the day I did. It just goes all over the place chocking everything out within its path. I suggest you container plant these two should you wish to grown them unless you are planting them for profit.
Each year I plant the following annual herbs: purple basil, sweet basil, parsley, Italian parsley, curly parsley, Summer Savory, coriander, chives, chervil, dill, marjoram and some more oregano. Though marjoram and oregano are perennials, sometimes they do not winter well.
The nice things about having a Mediterranean Herb Garden is that most of the herbs that I grow in it are used to hot dry climates so one does not have to do much watering after the seeds sprout.
Should you not have the room for a big herb garden remember they do well in containers as long as they receive a lot of sun.
Author Resource:-> For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books. Arlene says, "All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site."
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