The garden is going in late this year. I should have gotten started weeks ago, but the weather was just so cold and rainy most of the time, so I kept putting it off. The surprise has been that some chamomile I planted in one of the large raised boxes along the north fence has taken off and reproduced itself, so there's chamomile in the box. There's also curly-leaved spearmint, which should make a wonderful mint tea. Last year when I kept having to replant my snow peas because the mice kept digging up the seed, I went to a nursery and got peppermint and spearmint in small plastic containers and then just set the containers in the planter boxes near the peas. Apparently, mice don't like mint, but peas are just fine with it.
I never actually planted the mint, and it sat out all winter, still in its little plastic containers. The peppermint plants died but the spearmint was more tenacious. The spearmint somehow escaped the plastic containers and dove into the fertile soil of the planter boxes. This spring, I have curly spearmint in every one of the three planter boxes. It's persistent, but it pulls up just fine, and so I have ample spearmint to help deter mice from the peas, and also spearmint for tea as well. I probably should have just planted it in the large planters in the first place, and let it share space with the veggies, as it's going to do from now on. Because of its persistence, it survived, thrived, and now has a place of its own. There's a lesson in that.
I had a great time clearing out the planters and making them ready for the seeds, so tomorrow I'll be able to plant some of the things, and do more weeding in the larger garden spot. The Huz says he has enough materials left to build one more large planter box, so I'm really looking forward to that. I love those planter boxes. They're easy to reach, easy to weed, out of the way of the yard, and grow wonderful peas and carrots (and mint, apparently.) We've had the other three for about two years now, and I'm excited at the prospect of finally having another box to play with. Plus, it'll get rid of a lot of the big pile of topsoil that's been sitting on my back patio for the last couple of years, waiting for a box to hold it.
