muckefuck | Two months in the garden

As you may remember, my mantra through all those weeks of wet weather was always, "At least it's good for the garden". How good? See for yourself!

Here's our little plot back in May. The rosebush belongs to our neighbours. Directly behind the tutelary spirits is a freshly-planted jasmine. The bunch of oregano to the right is the only thing left from the previous plantings (except for the sweet william nicked by another neighbour). Those spindly plants around it are bee balm a.k.a. Oswego tea or bergamot (Monarda didyma). In the lower left, a few sad chives:

Here it is two months later with the addition of rosemary (at the base of the sculpture), lemon thyme (lower right), sorrel (Rumex acetosa; just behind it), borage (staked up), and lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla; in front of the trellis). You can't really see the tarragon, which is hidden by the sorrel, or the newly-planted lavender, which is already blooming.

So far, the lessons are:

Don't bother with tarragon. It's in a sunnier spot than the rosemary and it's done nothing.
If we want a climbing vine in back, jasmine is probably not the best choice.
Borage and chives would've grown fine from seed.

My biggest weed problem has been yellow wood sorrel a.k.a. sourgrass (Oxalis stricta). After throwing it away for weeks, I finally tasted some and realised it would make a fine cooking herb (particularly given the slug-wrecked state of its namesake). Now I'm planning to let it grow out until I can acquire enough for tea.