All mulches are not created equal

Part of moving into a new place is undoing what the previous owners did.

Take the foundation plantings for instance.

If you like stone mulch, they did it right. Layers and layers (and layers) of gravel on top of landscaping cloth. The beds were pretty much overgrown when we moved in but some lavender and colepsis were hanging in there and I uncovered a clematis drowning in trumpet vine.

However, I don’t like stone mulch. It adds nothing to the soil, always spills out into the lawn, and makes new plantings difficult.

New plantings like the herbs I want around the house.

Have you ever tried to clear up tons of gravel in 90+ degree heat? We’re working on it a small section at a time, not quite half done. Mint, sage, chives, oregano, horehound, and lemon balm that we brought with us have been transplanted and are doing well.

Straw may not be as neat as gravel, but it holds moisture well and breaks down to add lots of organic matter to the soil.

Being dedicated recyclers, we have found a use for all of that gravel--the driveway is looking pretty spiffy.

Horehound

Every spring for the past 5 years, I have tried to grow horehound from seed. And every year it failed to germinate.

Until this year.

From an entire packet of seeds, one plant came up. And it survived transplanting and is thriving in the herb garden.

I'm not sure why I was so determined to grow horehound. Possibly memories of the lozenges sucked as a child for sore throats, possibly the name (disappointedly derived from the Old English har--grey and hune--plant), maybe just the challenge of having another perennial that I managed to coax to life from a seed. 

Whatever the reason, I finally, in the year when I leave my garden in the middle of the growing season, have a horehound plant.

It's now in a pot. I hope it likes travel because it's being driven 750 miles to our new home, along with a few other herbs that I can't bear to leave.

Gardens to go. A little bit of the old life to start the new.