herbs glorious herbs...

finally i have woken up feeling slightly normal! although i have to admit i am still snotty and coughing a little but i needed to do something with today.
my original plan for this weekend was to plant a herb garden, bake a lot of cakes and do a roast dinner for the parents.

sadly because of feeling unwell the baking went out of the window as did the roast because i was unable to get out and get the leg of lamb.

my lovely mother did however manage to go out for me with a handful of cash and grabbed the things i needed for the herbs...so today i have become a gardener!

i decided to go for Rosemary, sage, lemon thyme and chives. 2 of each apart from the Rosemary.

i started off by taking a planter and poking holes into the base so that the water can drain out. i have read that herbs dont like to much water and also that the roots will go mouldy if they are to wet.

next i took some of the old terracota pots that we had lying around...you know...the cracked ones!
smash them to pieces with a hammer...or if you are anything like me, the closest heavy object you can find.

line the bottom of the planter with this, it will make the planter lighter to lift than if you were filling it right up with compost and will make the drainage even better.

now for these herbs im using a 50/50 mix of 2 different types of compost. one being John Innes No3 and the other being a multipurpose peat free compost.

me being me i thought that mixing them in another pot first of all might make things a bit less messy....i was wrong....lucky for me with a bit of cleaver photography (HAHA) i managed to avoid you seeing most of the mess....you do however get a view of my dads shoes and my little helped...my little ginger tom Ringo!

line the bottom of the planter with the compost so that the larger of the herbs are at a good height. before adding the plants though i added to moisture control gel...
these little babies retain water and swell to four times their original size and give the plants water as and when they need it.
this is not only great for the summer months when its dryer outside (we hope...) but also great for if you have a mind like mine and forget to water!

follow the directions on the packet and sprinkle a layer over the top of the compost.

next arrange the larger herbs and build up the soil around them so that the smaller ones are still at the right height. once you have everything in place make sure that everything is covered and that its all nicely patted down.

these particular herbs can be placed in 2 places, either in the sun or in part shade.

im quite lucky with my back garden, in the morning the sun shines in and warms everything up but as the intense afternoon rays come in the sun moves over to the front of the house, giving the herbs protection from the burning rays.

once you are happy with the placement give them a good watering and sit back and watch them grow.

i look forward to cooking with freshly grown herbs from my own garden...and it all happened at just the right time what with the #VegBoxChallenge