Living herb wall

I'm no gardener by any stretch of the imagination. Still, the cook in me likes the idea of cooking and eating fresh. Also, have you seen how much it costs to buy herbs these days?? Two years on from tending a basic herb garden, a pot of thyme remains intact. Although the other herbs have sadly passed on, I did use the parsley, chives and rosemary several times in my cooking before they died off. Perhaps they were only supposed to last a while? Hopefully.

One of my summer projects was to set up living wall of herbs on a patch of trellis in the back yard. The area is sheltered but also gets good sun. After scouring garden shops and daily deals for a few months, we came across this design which has individual pockets made of felt. This means that I can plant and water each herb separately and any excess water just drains through the felt.

I looked through my spice rack to see which herbs I use the most in my cooking and bought a few varieties of each in small pots to transplant into my wall. From top to bottom, I have planted:

• Italian and flat parsley
• lemon and pizza thyme
• Greek oregano
• garlic and regular chives
• sweet basil (I know this one will probably need to come inside during winter)
• rosemary to drape over the bottom edges.

There is also a tub of coriander hanging beneath the wall.

Living herb wall

I have planted little violets and violas in between the herb pockets in a checkerboard shape. Hopefully their pretty colours will attract bees and also allow room for the taller herbs to grow upwards without getting in the way of others.