New Herb Garden facing the deck.

I have been rebuilding the planters for the herb garden around the deck, as the old planters are probably about 25 years old and sinking and falling apart, and too small. Today I got out at 6am to finish the installation and planting — I had all the boxes built already.

The crew that was going to remove the maple tree showed up about 6:30. They started the chain saws at 7, and by the time I left for work about 10 am, the tree was down and all the branches were chipped. They were working on chipping the trunk when I left. These guys are good! It will be nice to have light in the garden.

I finished the herb planting this morning. Because of the mild winter, the sage, thyme and rosemary survived along with the oregano which usually makes it through the winter. The parsley produced well this spring, but it always bolts in its second year, so I replanted.

Here’s what’s in the herb garden:

• Dill
• Sage
• Oregano
• Mint
• Thai Basil
• Sweet Basil
• Rosemary
• 2 varieties of Thyme
• Parsley
• Garlic Chives
• Chives

(Note: The pictures of the herb garden were added in July as I didn’t take any after I rebuilt it. It also looked a lot better in July.

)

Tree removal set me behind a couple of weeks, but the beds are ready and the first planting is going in. Here’s what got planted today:

• 8 Jalapeno Peppers
• 10 Basil Plants
• 4 Early Girl Tomatoes
• 3 Sunbeam Tomatoes
• 1 Lemon Boy Tomato
• 1 Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomato
• 1 Black Krim Heirloom Tomato
• 4 Hot Banana Peppers
• 8 King Arthur Bell Peppers
• 8 Lady Bell Peppers
• 4 Valencia Peppers
• 4 Gypsy Peppers
• 4 Melrose Peppers
• 8 Banana Peppers
• 4 Hills of 3 or 4 Spineless Beauty Zucchini

The Lemon Boy, Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, and one of the Early Girls were the larger plants from Home Depot. The rest were the smaller plants from Goebbert’s. Zucchini plants were also from Goebbert’s.

Here is the garden layout and planting dates.

More light & more firewood.

After last year’s disaster of a garden, I decided that a few trees needed to be removed so that the plants might have light. Time to fire up the chainsaw!

A large white pine came down in a heavy late winter snowstorm, so that helped a bit. I was able to take down a silver maple and trim the pear tree back considerably. I’ll probably need to have the rest of it removed as it is quite close to the power lines.

Finally, we’re having the big silver maple that snuck in right on the property line removed. Greg and I will split the cost on that. It’s way too big and close to the house to attempt doing it myself.