planning an herb garden??

11 years ago

Have a perfect spot right outside my front door. If I do nothing with the area (as I usually do), it'll just become a weedly mess by hottest part of summer. It's about 25% moss, which I'd like to encourage... like nature's "mulch"??

Plan to plant some basil, rosemary, oregano, chives, parsley, etc. Have a small bay tree that I thought I killed last year, but has made a miraculous come-back. In my area (NJ), a know rosemary and bay have a decent change of surviving outdoors in winter, if protected.

Here's my question. Having a LARGE Maple tree taken completely down some day this coming week... before it decides to split and take out major chunk of my house or neighbor's. Tree guy will be grinding down stump and hauling everything away. Was told he will be chipping "smaller" branches. Would this newly chipped wood work as mulch, or should I avoid it entirely? I posted this HERE cuz couldn't figure the best place to start on Garden Web.

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Comments (6)

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
11 years ago
Save the wood.

Maple wood is great for smoking food. Sell them on eBay or give to someone.

Or buy a smoker, if you don't have one already.

dcarch
jadeite
11 years ago
Chipped maple makes great mulch. I've never used it when the wood is freshly chipped, I've always let it age for a season but I don't know if it's necessary. I had a huge Norway maple cut down when I lived in the Midwest. I used the bigger pieces for firewood, and the smaller branches which were chipped became my garden mulch.

Cheryl
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Suggest that you get a good soil test done. This way, you will know more about what the soil needs. Tilling might be necessary, but you can rent one and the whole job can take less than an hour to do. My 7 php tiller does over 2000 sq. ft and it takes about 2-3 hours tops. No tilling, just start the herbs in small pots and dig holes in the soil for each transplant. If the soil is heavy and clay like, you may have no alternatve but to somehow loosen it to a point where you can add ammendments like compost, and any other necessary fertilizer, micro nutrients, or minerals. If you want to control weeds, you can put down a black plastic heavy fabric mulch, cut round holes for each plant, and this will help to reduce weeds. With 70 varieties of herbs, you most likly are going to need a soil test, so do that before you do much of anything else. Many herbs have no real preference to soil or its quality, but because your wanting so many different kinds of herbs, you will have to make most of them happy.
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The "Apothecary Rose" is a nice antique rose. Mine is not very well behaved and the thorns are many and sturdy so I wouldn't advise planting herbs close to it that you want to fuss with. *ouch!* But for herbs to accompany it, the first on my list would be garlic. Garlic is one of the great companion plantings for roses and it is at home in an herb garden. The softneck varieties are usually grown in the warmer parts of the country. I prefer the hardneck varieties though. Many of your Mediterranean herbs (lavender, thyme, sage, rosemary) are great herbs that require little water. In fact, they will prefer less water than your rose and definitely less rich and better draining soil as well. As long as they are shaded - which the rose would provide, violets are a nice underplanting for roses. They too have a long history of culinary and medicinal use like the rose. They will be happy with the moisture level your rose needs but they don't like the harsh sun and heat and will stay to the shade of the bush. As far as other xeriscapic herbs, I linked in an article for you. FataMorgana Here is a link that might be useful: Xeriscape Herbs
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cloudy_christine
11 years ago
A place where moss is growing is not a good place for an herb garden. Herbs need good drainage; moss grows where drainage is poor. You could fix that by making a raised bed, but I am guessing it's also a somewhat shady place (that's where moss grows) and herbs want full sun.
teresa_nc7
11 years ago
The mints would do well where the moss is, but they tend to exceed their boundaries and would take over the whole yard and the back forty if you let them. If you dug big holes and buried a clay pot with mint growing, you could help contain the mint. Other than that, plant it on the edge of your property and just mow or weed-eat it down to keep it contained.

Yes! Let the chipped wood rest until Spring, 2014. Move it to a location in the backyard where it won't be an eyesore or get in the way of other plantings.

Yes, most herbs need well drained soil and at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. If you have really rich, loamy, dark soil, add a goodly amount of sand and mix it in well. Your bay tree and rosemary will winter over if they are somewhat sheltered by a wall, a building, or by other plants to protect them from harsh winter winds.

Teresa
jimster
11 years ago
When I had a very large (5ft. diameter) willow tree taken down, I kept the chips and mixed them into the area where I wanted to make a rhododendron garden. The soil was heavy clay and I thought the chips would provide needed organic material.

Keep in mind that decaying wood uses up nitrogen. Also, the decay will take place over several years. You may need to add significant amounts of nitrogen fertilizer.

GW has a soil forum, linked below.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Forum
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
11 years ago
Maple wood logs can also be used to grow mushrooms.

dcarch

planning an herb garden??

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dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

jadeite

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