My New Herb Garden

Voila!

I'm so pleased with how my herb garden turned out! The hubby really did such an amazing job on it. Especially considering how this herb garden came into being...

Last weekend, upon returning from Lowe's and completing our yard work, the hubby and I were looking at Pinterest. I was showing him pictures of an herb garden like this, because I was leaning towards modeling mine similarly. Well, he got a bee in his bonnet and decided he wanted to build it right then. At 4 pm. After we'd already been to Lowe's that day. So... back to Lowe's we went for lumber, screws, and gardening soil. The hubby built this in less than 2 hours after we returned home. That in itself was astonishing to me, as it would have taken me weeks to build something like this. Who am I kidding? It might have taken me months!

What do I have growing in here?

The bottom row is basil. The 2nd tier is cilantro on one side, and then flat-leaf and curly parsley on the other side. The 3rd tier is oregano and thyme. And the top tier is mint. My mother informed me that you always plant mint alone, as it will take over the space. Good to know!

If my herbs make it through this spring, it will be a miracle. So far, since we've gotten the herbs planted, we've had frost at night, a monsoon, and fairly gusty winds. The hubby reminds me plants are hardy, but I've never done this before. Sure, we grew some herbs and vegetables when we lived in Portland, but that was the hubby's project. I was almost entirely uninvolved in the gardening in Oregon. Now I'm wishing I'd paid a little bit more attention!

Flat-leaf and curly parsley.

As you can see, our landscaping leaves a bit to be desired. The hubby is planning on tilling a lot of the dirt today, so we can reseed areas of the yard with grass. We are going to have mud spots for a while longer it seems. I guess these things take time. And more importantly, money!

 My mint! Below it, oregano.

Side note- I got a picture of this fella near one of my feeders, and I'm having a hard time identifying him! I think I've narrowed him down to an indigo bunting, but I'm not 100% on that. Any birders out there know what kind of a bird this is?

And finally, the hubby and I ran a 5k for a local animal shelter, Sierra's Haven, yesterday. Sierra's Haven is one of the best in the area, and a no-kill shelter. I've been out to their site, and not only is it a beautiful place for the animals, but it's clean and the staff is super-helpful. I had to take a cat out there that I found during the polar vortex, and they took him in with open arms. They are just a wonderful organization. They been having some financial difficulties lately, so they have numerous fundraisers going on right now. The hubby and I decided to take part in their 5k, which was ran at a local high school. The course they made was a 3 mile loop around the school, which sits on a steep hill. The beginning of the course had us running down the hill, and I must admit while I was running down it, the only thing I could think about was coming back up. Sure enough, when it came time to go back up, it was right around the end of mile 2. I did my best, and I ran all the way up the hill, but I was gassed at the top. My pace slowed dramatically, and I never really turned on the juice for the rest of the race. But, I finished and that's what counts. I'll have to try for a new PR at the next race :)

The hubby, however, finished 3rd overall! Go hubby!!

This was my scene yesterday, post race. Sitting in the sun, having a beer, staring at my herb garden.

In other words, bliss :)

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!