Recently I began working on a border garden in my backyard. While it’s primary purpose is to keep my neighbor’s weeds out of my yard, it’s secondary purpose is to be a colorful, flower-filled garden. I have walked up and down many perennial aisles at local nurseries trying to decide which flowers I want to purchase. Since I’m trying to cover about 100 feet in length I don’t want to spend too much on each plant. My main focus has been finding a plant with color, and one that will be easy to divide in future summers so that I can plant it elsewhere along the garden.
The idea came to me while walking past the herb seed section on a recent trip to the nursery. Some of the herbs you can grow have really pretty flowers that bloom along with it. Since I’m not much of a gourmet cook I haven’t had too much need to plant herbs in the past, but now that I see what they look like while planted, I think it’s worth a shot! By purchasing the packets of seeds, I’m saving quite a bit over buying the plants when they are a couple inches high.
I picked up a couple packets to start; one chives and one lavender (and some poppies because I couldn’t resist). Before planting them straight in the garden, I started them in smaller pots that I recycled from previous perennial purchases. Once they began to sprout I transplanted them into my garden. Be sure to water frequently so that the new sprouts don’t wilt or die.
Here is a beginning picture when I planted the seeds. In a couple weeks I hope to have an updated photo to show of the herbs holding their own next to the perennial flowers.
Recreational Gardener 