All About My Herb Garden

Ever since I started writing articles about gardening, I wanted to create a garden of my own.  The problem is the limit of land area in my area.  Thanks to the this gardening assignment given to me by my oDesk buyer, I was able to come up with the solution for my dilemma: container gardening.  Containers of at least 8 inches must be used for the herbs to promote growth.  I also had to purchase a potting mix for I could not use just any soil that I can find around my area.  Diseases and pests that live in the soil will be a major problem.  Buying a potting mix will eliminate the need to prepare the soil with hazardous chemicals such as fungicides and herbicides just to kill microorganisms and weeds that may compete with the plants for nutrients.

With the help of my sister-in-law and her husband, we were able to visit the local garden store.  The place was full of seedlings that had my head reeling.  I had so many choices, I did not know what to pick first for my garden.  I did not have my camera then, but the selection was really extensive.  Almost a hundred herbs were available for the picking.  The seedlings were sold originally for Php 50.00 per plant, but since my sister-in-law was a member, we were able to get the seedlings for Php 100 for 3 pieces.  I was able to buy basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary, lavander, and malvarosa for my starting herb garden.  They were planted in a thin seedling container of 3 inches.

I was able to get my hands on two sizes of containers.  One set was at least 6 inches depth and diameter, while the other was around 4 inches.  We were in a hurry so I was not that very particular in checking the size, which was of course a mistake.  The multipurpose potting mix I bought already had compost in it.  It was about the quarter of a size of a full sack of rice, and good enough for 4 pieces of 6-inch and 4-inch containers with a lot to spare.

Before placing the seedlings inside the containers, I had to collect broken terra cotta pots in the house.  Fortunately I was able to find a lot of them.  I broke them into little pieces and lined the bottom of the plastic containers.  This will help drain the soil as plants can easily drown in container gardening.  I then placed potting mix at the bottom and dug a hole slightly bigger than the container that my seedlings came in.  The seedlings had to be held by the leaves and pulled gently from the plastic container.  I placed the seedling inside the hole and covered it with additional potting mix.  I watered the plants until it flowed out of the bottom and placed them on the veranda.

The plants were bought last March 17, 2010.  As long as I have time to spare, I will record their progress to see how they are fairing.  So far, they are doing good.  hopefully, it will continue on.