New Herb Bed

I have a small bricked in bed up by the front door that is a great location for herbs.  What makes it a great location? 

The bed after clearing it out, amending with compost

and some peat moss (leftover from planting the blueberries)

Let me tell ya!

1. Well, it's right by the front door which is close to the kitchen, so it is easy to go out and snip a few items to bring inside.

2. It's bricked in and surrounded by tile and cement so mint which can be so invasive can be planted in there and be contained yet still be happy with the lovely soil. 

3. To get into the garage I have to walk by this bed which means I can run my hands over the herbs just to smell them.

4. Bugs don't like herbs for the most part, they leave them alone which is great because my hubby's office window is right above the bed and he leaves his window open ALL day long, so having herbs in there instead of other climbing items is great because there are no bugs trying to get in.

After putting in concrete blocks with newspaper below

to keep weeds down where the hose goes

This past year it was full of mint, nasturtiums and thyme but it needed a freshening so I headed over to the Orange County Farm Supply and picked up a few plants.  You really can't beat their prices, especially considering it's not a big box but is a true independent store, and the quality of the plants and selection is good enough for me.  Plus, the plants are grown locally so they do well in our area. 

Here's the new herb bed:

Curly Parsley

Varigated Sage

Flat Leaf Parsley

Mint

Lemon Verbana

These plus lavender, rosemary, basil and pineapple sage round out my herb collection for this year.

What herbs do you like to use in cooking, any good recipes to share?