Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Friday, May 5, 2017

Herb Garden ~ Yogurt Dip with Herbs

Since it's raining out, and I'm cleaning and shampooing carpets, I'm sharing the update on our herb garden.  By the way the rain came back in full force - flood warnings every where.  And it's cold.  I had to put on my winter coat yesterday.  Brrrr.  So it's wet, cold, windy, cloudy, and it's May.  May.  I repeat May.  Mother Nature must be drunk.  And my year-old $78.00 thermal muck boots have holes now.  Holes.  I have to walk through a river to get to the barn and my socks are soaked.   I'm about to get the canoe out, ha ha!
Anyway....

Spontaneously (earlier this Spring), Hubby and I decided to give the herb garden a "face lift."  This is why.  The photo is actually of the flower bed, but the same border - natural rocks we found on the homestead.  I've had the beds this way for 9-10 years now.  Every spring I have to re-set the rocks, sweep up all the mulch and/or dirt and put it back in the beds.  Gah!

You can see the mess of weeds too.  When I first put this garden in, we used simply newspaper.  It's held the weeds down until now (9-10 years later).  I had to dig up the chives completely, dig out all the grass, and replant.  On the left is my green onion, and to the right of that thyme (filled with grass too).  It was a job this spring.

 All the landscaping stones are in place, and weeding resumed.  What a mess it was.  Weeds, weeds, weeds (which I turned into tea makers, aside from the grass)  I let it go last fall to stock up on all those tomatoes.  


It's looking much better now. I'm on the hunt for pine mulch now.  If not, I may be renting a chipper and making my own (if we have any downed pine out in the "back 40").  I have already planted new oregano, chives and rosemary, but I need more rosemary.  My invasive herbs are in pots.  I may even try (dare I?) to replant all the medicinal ones the raccoons terrorized last year.  


My parsley is already up.  I couldn't wait any longer, and snipped some to make a dip - homemade yogurt, finely chopped fresh parsley, and minced garlic (still providing from last year).  You can top fish, sandwiches, or use it as a dip.  Yum!

8 comments:

Rain said...

I love how your herb garden looks! And that dip...mmmm...I am a dip lover and could eat it for dinner. :)

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Rain, we hope to get more stone and re-do the rose bed too. I have already made the yogurt dip again. Yum.

RB said...

Other than parsley, I can't grow herbs to save my soul. Bro Tom even built me a beautiful 4-square wood edged bed to put them all in a few years back, and still - nada.
We've always heard pine straw is too acidic for herbs. Not so? We live among huge pines, and have been scooping the pine straw out of the herb beds all along to prevent that, so it would be funny if it weren't true. LOL
Anyway, hope everyone has a great weekend.
Prayers for all in the path of storms.
God bless.
RB
<><

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

RB, from what others have told me, pine wood mulched is okay for herb gardens. I do not put straw on it.

Sam I Am...... said...

Hard work you did on that herb garden but it looks great! The dip look sand sounds good too!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Sam I Am, I may not get my rose bed done this year, so I hope they have the same stones next spring.

Susan said...

I love the stone edging! I've used wood, but it's disintegrating. There is nothing worse than trying to get grass out of a garden bed!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Thank you Susan. We wanted something nice, and something that would last a long time.