Creating Your Own Herb Rock Garden

When I was a kid, I lived out in a rural community and we only had clay sod once you dug about 6 or 12 inches down. When you are 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 sunshine and water, your garden won’t flourish. With the right combination of water, sod and natural light, you can grow just about anything.

Rather than trying to fix the dirt issues, I changed my garden plan and learned about rock gardening, which uses rocks and only a thin layer of nice earth.

If you have got a similar situation, you can grow your own rock garden. Some herbs truly love the rocky craggy sod that you have in areas like this all over the world. If you do not have the rocky soil and want the aesthetic of a rock garden, be sure you’ve got room for roots to grow and also some good drainage.

When planning your herb garden, be sure that you are choosing herbs that can stay compact, because with limited space you do not want anything taking over. Look at your reference books for the right herbs for rock gardens. A good rule of thumb are those that have silver or gray leaves. It is not a hard-and-fast rule, but it should help in making good choices.

Hen-and-Chicks: I cannot 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. The leaves of this herb store water for periods of drought. Your hen can get up to 4 inches across pretty fast. Soon small off-shoots, or chicks, will sprout up from the edges of your hen. You will enjoy the reddish-pink blooms that can appear atop a 9 inch spike that shoots straight up from the center of each hen in the summer. The herb will continue to add chicks and grow into a colony of herbs.

Wild Oregano: This perennial from the Mediterranean region will grow energetically up to 30 inches tall with its oval leaves and purple blossoms that come out late in the summer. Although you certainly may eat this variety of oregano, it will not quite be the same as the Greek oregano you are familiar with from Italian meals.

Marjoram: You can cook with marjoram, but you can use it to landscape your rock garden. It’s a perennial that has a delicate scent with oval gray-green leaves and tiny white flowers. For marjoram to retain its shape and form, keep it trimmer back (use the clippings in your Italian meals) so that it will keep growing well—full sun and the good drainage in your rock garden will help too.

Thyme: The shiny, little leaves of the thyme plant are clustered along woody stems that are adorned with numerous white or pink blossoms and grows to a height of up to 12 inches. Thyme grows best when the earth is sandy, well-drained and gets a whole lot of light. You’ll want to keep this herb trimmed back to maintain its shape and to help it remain hearty.

The contrast between the rocks and the herb plants will dazzle the eyes, without losing any of the other sensations, including smell and taste.

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.

Posted under Herb Garden Design

This post was written by admin on March 8, 2010

Tags: gardening, growing herb rock gardens, herb garden designs, outside, rock garden, Website Information

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