From Jumbled Mess to Kitchen Herb Garden

The small flower bed in front of our house had become a jumbled mess of cactus, Spanish Daggers, ruellia, and assorted weeds. My son suggested we pull everything out, replace the dirt with garden soil and plant an herb garden. Since the kitchen window is right above this space, it seemed to make perfect sense. Now to tackle the removal of those pesky plants.

The first thing we had to do was to cut the daggers off the Spanish Daggers. Those things are lethal! Here's what it looked like when we'd finished that little chore:

Once we had them cut down to size, we had to dig everything up. I don't know if you are familiar with Spanish Daggers, but they send out runners which will produce new plants. The jungle I had growing in my small space started out as just one tiny little plant. Once we dug everything out, we covered the space with black plastic sheeting which would help kill any runners left behind. I certainly did not want another crop of daggers growing in my herb garden! I decided that the border would again be made out of Topo Chico bottles, of which we have an abundant supply, thanks to my husband's voracious Topo Chico habit.

Once I had the border finished and the new soil installed, it was off to the nursery to purchase some herbs for the garden. We got three types of basil, chive, dill, sage, mint, oregano, thyme, cilantro, parsley, and a small pepper plant.

The plants are all thriving, and now I can just clip fresh herbs whenever I need them. This is way better than dodging those sharp daggers!