A bit of a parterre garden

This is as formal as it gets around my yard. I love the look of a formal parterre mixed with herbs and fruit trees. But not too fussy or groomed. The gravel for my paths came from a client's home when she no longer wanted it and the brick was left over from a construction site. I have been having a heck of a time this year due to rabbits eating my parsley and a few other things. In this picture you can see creeping thyme and curry in the urn, surrounded by 4 squares of oregano, sage, parsley and dill. The inside of the circle is also ringed with purple basil which is sitting defiantly in its place refusing to grow an inch since I moved it out from the nice warm house and the grow lights. Reminds me a bit of a child I know...heheh! Well, eventually I hope they both get happier where they are and begin to burst forth with new life!

Other things planted in my herb garden are lavender, echinacea, love lies bleeding, lemon thyme, english thyme, genovese basil, bloody sorrel, chocolate mint, bronze fennel, cilantro, chives, a few stray tomatoes and a struggling old espaliered bartlett pear tree. I pulled up all the french tarragon last year because it had grown so old and woody. Since then I have not found any new tarragon worthy of planting.

This year I proudly outwitted the chives by picking off all the lovely chive flowers before they went to seed which I hope will save me a lot of trouble next year digging out stray chive plants from the gravel path. But I was sorry to remove those pretty little purple balls since they were about the only spring color in the parterre other than green. Somewhere in my herb garden I vaguely remember planting some seeds for a greek oregano that was supposed to make a really swell immune boosting oil of oregano. It was the end of a long day working in the yard and planting way too many seed packets. I was in a panic trying to find an empty spot for the last seeds on my list. I should have used a plant marker because the location of this new oregano has completely left my memory.

If you decide to plant an herb garden, be sure you keep it close to the kitchen, for if you are like me, you will be scurrying out the door once or twice during most meal preparation snipping a bit of this or that for seasonings. Whenever I am at a loss for what to make, I grab a bit of english thyme from the garden and sprinkle it on chicken breasts, sometimes still frozen. I top the chicken with some olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and garlic. Finally I add a dash of salt and pepper and bake uncovered for a half hour or so, depending on whether the breasts are thawed or not. The results are always delicious and satisfying.