The birds are singing; the sun is shining and my garden has been planted. I love spring. My little backyard herb and vegetable garden got a few upgrades this season.
A few years back, I thought it would be a good idea to chop down a spindly rose bush and place my garden right over the top of it in closer proximity to the patio. While the move made sense, I had no idea how ruthless a rose bush can be. Even with a heavy-duty liner and river rocks laid over the top, those pesky, thorny rose bush stems pushed up from the ground every single spring and withered their way around my container garden.
The move also turned out to be a bad idea, because it placed the garden directly under pine trees, and keeping up with the pine straw removal from the garden bed turned out to be a full-time job.
So, this year, we moved the garden back to the side of the yard, along the picket fence line under the clear blue sky. It will get more sunlight in its new home because it’s not overshadowed by the house.
We raised it up higher by stacking two additional rows of cinder blocks underneath it – so much better and easier on the back. For a finishing touch, I added a little sign across the front which reads, “Gardening, cheaper than therapy, and you get tomatoes.”
Speaking of tomatoes, I planted three different varieties: Better Boy, Roma and Cherry. I planted banana peppers too, which I’ve never grown before, along with the usual suspects: Fresh parsley, English thyme, and towering basil.
My eight-year-old rosemary plant got relocated from the primary garden bed to its own container, this way it won’t hog up all the energy from the other plants. A few single terra cotta pots are also filled with jalapeno plants and fresh mint, scattered around the primary container. Somewhere along my gardening journey, I realized planting only the herbs I cook with the most often was the best course of action. Before, I tried things like lavender and dill, but they ended up overgrown because I couldn’t use the herbs faster than they grew.
I’ve always loved the expression, “Grow where you’re planted.” Sometimes, we just need to embrace the season of life we’re in, dig deep and plant roots.
Just like that pesky rose bush, when we’re deeply rooted, it’s hard to get knocked down.
Rebekah Faulk Lingenfelser is a private chef, speaker, culinary TV personality, and author. Featured in Forbes, on ABC and Food Network, she is a Georgia Southern University alumna and an honors graduate of the Savannah Culinary Institute. Visit RebekahLingenfelser.com, like Some Kinda Good on Facebook or follow @SKGFoodBlog on Instagram and YouTube.
