This is my herb garden at the first part of the summer. I love my herb garden. It's one of my favorite things. It's planted where there used to be a pond. We kept the pond when we first moved in, but it was ugly and every kid that came to our house wanted to throw rocks into it. We cleaned it up and filled it in with soil about seven or eight years ago and it has been an herb garden ever since.

The first herb in there was the sage plant, a gift from my mom. It's been there since the beginning. Every spring I trim it down to within an inch of its life, and it beautifully fills back in. The other herbs we have this year are....parsley, rosemary, thyme, mint, oregano, tarragon, basil, and chives. In the black bucket on the left, I planted cilantro, which didn't ever come up and I've never been able to grow. Then I tried planting dill. Several of the dill seeds sprouted, but after each one got to be about 1 inch high, something would eat it. Right now there's one surviving dill plant--guess that's better than nothing. In the foreground, by the flower pots, I tried planting lavendar for the first time. It's growing but very, very slowly.

I love being able to just pop out to the little herb garden and pick whatever I need for a recipe. And several of the herbs will last long through the fall, even after it freezes (sage, rosemary, thyme). If I were to give any advice about planting an herb garden, I would start with the hearty herb, like sage, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. But be careful with oregano because, really, it's a weed and will take over. I've cut mine back numerous times. And if anyone has any suggestions for growing cilantro, just let me know. Maybe I'll post a couple of my favorite herb recipes over the next couple weeks.

Have a good one!!!

Erin