Starting Our Own Herb Garden

Since Steve and I have moved into our new place, we have talked about how we would one day like to have a herb garden that we could incorporate into our cooking routine. During the winter months it was easy to talk about getting the herb garden ready, but not actually acting on it. However, once April came we decided we needed to start putting our talk into action.

Given that we do not yet have a yard of our own, we knew that our herb garden would probably start inside our home and then eventually work its way out to our patio. We also knew that we wanted to grow a few different herbs and would need enough space on our patio to accommodate the planter. I took some time and measured the true size of our patio, determined the location of all of our patio furniture/BBQ/etc and then determined how much size could truly be allocated to a good size planter (that could fit 4-5 herbs). Once I had the very basic blueprint laid out I showed it to Steve and we agreed that we now had a plan for our soon-to-be herb garden.

Steve and I spent the rest of April actually becoming more interested in buying the patio furniture and BBQ than we were in the herb garden, and before we knew it, we had everything bought and on the patio - except for the herb garden. So finally this past weekend I made it my #1 priority to go out and buy everything I could imagine we would need for our little patio garden. My mission took my directly to Canadian Tire where I was able to pick up everything I needed (planter, 3 bags of soil - I did overestimate how much I would need, gardening tools, and of course our seeds). I decided to buy 5 types of herb seeds: dill, rosemary, basil, chives, and thyme. And as my co-workers will know, I did have a slight mishap when leaving Canadian Tire and ended up having the cart full of gardening supplies (including very heavy bags of soil) come crashing down on me right in the parking lot (very painful and very embarrassing). Luckily a few very nice Canadian Tire shoppers helped me right up and helped me get everything into my trunk. And then I was set to head home and begin setting up our little garden.

Steve and I had a great time getting everything ready (I really enjoyed it because after my little accident I had to stay on the couch with ice on my leg and was able to 'direct' the entire gardening process!). We decided to plant the rosemary in a different container because we had read that it can grow similar to mint and try to take over other herbs (a trouble maker!).

So for right now our herb garden lives just inside our patio windows where it can receive lots of sun and some protection for the 'harsh' Nova Scotia spring elements. Once we feel our little garden is ready we will move it out onto the patio - but for now we are very protective new herb garden parents. Which is strange, because we also can't wait to use the herbs in our cooking creations - not what you'd want to hear a new parent say about their new addition...

That point is neither here nor there, but we will make sure to post pictures once the herbs start to grow and will keep the blog updated on their progress.