The New Herb Garden in September - September 24, 2019 @goldenoakfarm

Row 3, Lemon verbena flowering and huge

Here’s a bit of a tour of the New Herb garden. I was out there all day on Tuesday, along with my helper friend.

Row 3, yellow toothache plant

Most of this has gone by, but this little section is still flowering. It got really huge, out of the bed and covering the walkways on both sides. I had to hack it back to work on Row 4.

Row 3, parsley

After a bad start, this Dark Green Italian parsley is doing really well. It will survive light frosts, so I may get to harvest some this year.

Row 3, snapdragons

I have snapdragons in 2 places in this garden. Both have done really well. The ones in Row 1 wintered over from last year.

Row 3, spotted bee balm

I got this plant at the Old Sturbridge sale in May. I bought it because of the intriguing name. It certainly doesn’t look like the other 2 bee balms, and there were no spots all summer. I wondered about the name.

My helper friend was weeding that end of the row and he said, “Come look! It did get spots!” and sure enough, it has spots everywhere, in spades!

Row 4 mulched

My helper friend did most of the mulching while I weeded and deadheaded.

Row 4, arnica

The arnica had died back in July. It turns black when it does that. If I had known, I’d have put it at the other end of the row, instead of in front. But it’s coming back now, so it doesn’t look so bad.

Row 4, clary sage

Behind the arnica, we had a hard time seeing this plant for all the grass and weeds. But it has done very well, another intriguing Old Sturbridge purchase.

Row 4, marigolds

The marigolds did not like all the weeds and they did not reach their usual 2½’ - 3’ height.

Row 5 mulched

This row doesn’t have a lot in it, due to construction. The hyssop, which is NOT the Root Beer variety, has done well, considering. I’ve yet to collect the seeds from the honesty plant. I’m letting all my balsams go to seed so I will have volunteers next year.

Row 5 sage

The sage has come back well, from when we weeded and pruned it about 3 weeks ago. I will have sage leaves into January, I think. At the end, the pineapple sage is still going for world domination, and I again hacked it back into its bed.

Row 7 mulched

My helper friend got this bed mulched. We didn’t use the broadfork on it, hoping the worms will do the job for us over the winter. If not, we’ll do it in the spring before transplanting back into it.

He was a bit over zealous with the bark mulch in the walkways, and it’s so deep it is falling into the beds. So I’ve been pulling it out and moving it to shrubs that need mulched. Then I put down packed leaves of hay mulch along the sides to keep any more from falling into the beds. Fortunately I have a surplus of mulch hay this year.

I brought in borage to dehydrate and peppermint to dry or dehydrate, but was too tired to work on either one on Tuesday afternoon. I will have to tackle them Wednesday and my intern will be here. She will be working on the house with my husband though. I suspect after the hard day on Tuesday, sitting and loading dehydrators will be my speed…