Creating Your Own Herb Rock Garden
When I was a kid, I lived out in a rural community and we only had clay soil once you dug about 6 or 12 inches down. When you’re planning your garden, you have got to put sunshine and soil quality at the top of the list of things to consider. Without the correct amounts of both sunlight and water, your garden will not flourish. If you can get 2 or three of these factors right, you’re all set.
To solve my clay dirt problems, I turned to rock gardening, which focuses on adding lots of rocks to your landscape and focusing on herbs that only need a few inches of good soil.
A rock garden is about the positive features that you may have in your garden already or those that you want to create. Some herbs truly love the rocky craggy dirt that you have in areas like this all over the world. If you don’t have the rocky earth and want the aesthetic of a rock garden, be sure you’ve got room for roots to grow and also some nice drainage.
Rock gardens focus on keeping the herb compact and controlled. Another tip is to look for herb plants with silver or gray leaves. It is not a hard-and-fast rule, but it should help in making the best decisions.
- Hen-and-Chicks: {I can’t imagine cutting open a hen or chick and rubbing it on a wart, but this perennial succulent herb, which is also known as St. Patrick’s cabbage, has a long history of healing them.} Each leaf will hold enough water to make it through a day without water. Each one can grow to four inches across and each “hen” will have many off-shoots or “chicks.” In the summer, a 9 inch spike arises from the center of each mature cabbage to display pinkish-red blooms. The plant can continue to add chicks and grow into a colony of hens-and chicks.
- Wild Oregano: This perennial from the Mediterranean region can grow vigorously up to 30 inches tall with its oval leaves and purple blossoms that come out late in the summer. This isn’t the same type of oregano that you find in Italian dishes, but you can eat it.
- Marjoram: Not only can you cook with marjoram, but you can use it in your rock garden. Its oval gray-green leaves have a delicate scent that can remind you of your favorite pasta sauce and its tiny white flowers will bring a smile to your face. For marjoram to retain its shape and form, keep it cut back (use the clippings in your Italian dishes) so that it can keep growing well—full sun and the good drainage in your rock garden can help too.
- Thyme: The shiny, little leaves of the thyme plant are clustered along woody stems that are adorned with many white or pink flowers and grows to a height of up to 12 inches. Thyme grows best when the dirt is sandy, well-drained and gets a whole lot of sunshine. Thyme has a tendency to grow like crazy, so keep it cut back to maintain its compact shape.
Part of the wonder of rock gardens is the mix of the hard rocks and the soft plants. The difference in colors also helps in achieving a sense of the beautiful. You can even use aromatic and culinary herbs in your rock garden, which will provide you with all the benefits of a regular herb garden.
Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.
Here is more information on Herb Garden Designs. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.
