Planting a herb garden

This is something I've wanted to do for ages and never gotten around to! It just makes sense when you spend £1 here and £1 there all the time on little clippings of herbs from the supermarket, it will be so nice to have everything I use on my back door step at a seconds notice! I definately think it's worth having a good think about what you use regularly and plan what you want to buy before you make the trip to the garden centre! I went for...

Italian rosemary

Italian mint 

Giant Italian parsley

Garlic chives

Archers gold thyme

Dill

Sweet basil

Oregano 

Tricolour sage

Marjoram 

And I also bought 4 different varieties of strawberry in the hope of some summer Eton mess!...

Eros strawberries

Lucy strawberries

Redgauntlet strawberries

Honeoye strawberries

I can't wait for it all to get established! I will post updates as I go! And if anyone has any hints or tips please let me know! As this is very new to me! 

Here's some instructions on how to to it yourself based on what I have done so far...

1. Line some planters with gravel (to help with drainage. I used 3x 50cm troughs and 1x 30cm one. 

2. Fill with multi purpose compost.

3. Plan where you want to put your herbs. I read that Mint and Rosemary can go a little wild if you let them and take over so I put those together in the smaller trough in the hope of containing them! I then put the basil, oregano, marjoram and sage together in one pot, and the chives, dill, parsley and thyme in another. I also potted up a trough of strawberries.

4. Make a hole in the compost where you want your plant to go, gently tip the plant from it's pot, loosen the roots a little then pop in the hole. Fill in around it with more compost and press it down. 

5. Do this with all of your herbs, leaving a good 10-20cm between each plant. I may end up repotting some of them later as they grow! I expect especially to have to do this with the thyme and sage! 

My strawberries

The rosemary and mint

The parsley, chives, thyme and dill

The basil, oregano, sage and marjoram

6. I kept the original labels where I could but also made my own from lollipops sticks to make sure I don't forget! 

7. Label everything up, put the pots in a sunny spot and give it a good water. I also read that it's good to use a tomato fertisiler to feed them, so dilute that in your watering can and give them a feed. 

Now sit and wait! And keep checking back for updates on how I get on and hints and tips as I work them out!