It's humid. Big, suck the wind out of you humid. I would love to say that I've been doing tons of gardening and powering through the heat, but that would be a huge lie...the polar vortex spoiled me and I am out for about an hour before the mosquitoes and heat bring me back in. I was hugely productive (pat, pat) on my recent vacation from the day job, ripping out the overgrown Lavenders in the herb bed, beating back the mint, laying down new mulch and protection from the weeds. The herb garden was one of my first gardens, and I made big mistakes with it.
To start off with, I worked it way too early, before it was an herb garden. The soil was frozen and muddy, but I happily dug and sowed lettuce seeds. When the soil dried out, it resembled concrete. Rock hard, and invaded by roots from my neighbors' thuggy silver maple. Learning my lesson, I replanted as an herb bed, with lots of sand amendments. That would have been ok except I placed plants much too close together. The Lavender was gorgeous, but it was fighting for its life with some oregano, sage, and other self-seeded lavender. Also common thyme, lemon thyme, asparagus, chocolate mint, peppermint, apple mint, sorrel and catnip grown in one of those tiny little kits in a fit of boredom one winter. The space is about 10 x 40, and was rapidly turning into a minty jungle.
I have a hard time killing green growing plants, even if they probably deserve it. It just feels...unethical. But this time, I smothered my conscience and pulled out the apple mint, which doesn't make very good tea or desserts since the leaves are so furry. I limited the spread of the chocolate mint that I like much better for tea. I divided, clipped, mulched, and at the end it looked much more restrained and everything left had room to grow. I'm still wanting to grow a few herbs that I don't have yet, such as Rue, Angelica, etc.
Happy Gardening, all!
Mariah
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