Guerilla Warfare

After spending a couple of weeks working my way through the unstoppable and prolific mint that had choked out everything in its path, I'm left with a pile of fat white roots:

What a mess, right?

I have to admit to a certain sense of satisfaction in seeing all of this rooted out and removed.  I have no idea what I will do with this pile.  It is still alive, and growing...I'd drive a stake through its' collective heart, if it had one.  I suppose I'll have to settle for fire.  Bwah ha ha ha!

Unfortunately, it is rather windy today so my pyromaniac dreams will just have to wait. I don't want to set the house (or the neighbors) alight...just the mint.  Dang mint.  It's not worth saving, as it has hybridized, and tastes horrible.  A hybrid of spearmint, peppermint, pineapple and apple mint is NOT something you want to experience in your mojito.  Trust me on this.  Ack.

After all the "stuff" was dragged out, inch by inch by inch, I rounded up a whole mess of bricks from the big home supply store.  I love going there this time of year. So many projects, so many options, so many pretty pretty things for your garden.  So many many ways to spend your money.  After browsing the options in the concrete and rock area, I opted for the "Holland" style, in mocha.  So much more sexy than the standard red brick monsters that you can find everywhere.  Plus, they were out of the red ones.  (Apparently bricks are really hot right now.  Maybe everyone is dealing with overgrown herbs?  Or, there's a big-winded creature out wandering around.  The election primary is next week.)

After a bit of fun with graph paper and a ruler, I mapped out my plan for the new and  improved herb garden.  I'm hoping that by using bricks, it will help keep the herbs defined and stop them from all growing together.  Time will tell if my plan will pan out.

In any case, the end product looks like this:

Not too shabby, huh?

It's a little bare right now, but as it has decided to be seasonable weather once again (meaning that the daily high temps are hitting the 40s or 50s, and we are still getting hard frosts at night) I can't put my new herb seedlings out until things warm up a little bit. I was able to rescue a few things, like a bunch of hyssop, my french tarragon, one of the echinaceas that didn't get strangled, lemon balm (now that was a wonderful surprise!), and chives. I scored some walking onions at last weekend's plant swap, and dug some catnip from another spot in the yard and transplanted it here.  I also scattered some valerian seeds that I got from a friend. The remaining 9 sections will be home to thyme, basil, parsley, and more, once things (a) get warmer, and (b) I actually harden off the seedlings.  It's on my To Do list.

A revamped herb garden:  gnome approved.