Here we are in our lovely stone house in the ancient village of Assos which dates back to the 4th Century BC. Just in case you’re not familiar with the location, it’s in western Turkey overlooking the beautiful Aegean Sea about five and a half hours away from Istanbul by car. You couldn’t ask for better weather and especially for a project like this: to make a herb garden out of nothing.
this is one side of the garden with rosemary, lavender and sage grown huge; you can see the bricks for the new herb garden piled on the left |
Mehmet had cleared the plot a few months ago so here it was, just awaiting my attention. In the meantime, I had been doing my reading so had a fairly good idea of what I wanted, at least the shape if not the content!
Today was the day!
Mehmet and TT measuring and setting out the bricks for the paths |
the paths progress |
and here it is with the lone lavender that we had planted in the middle before |
So here it was, beautifully laid out and looking just great. Now the question was, what to plant in it. The idea was a herb garden but the trouble is that surprisingly there are not that many herbs available in this part of the country. I was set in the idea of having only herbs and not vegetables but today I went to market and there I met a lovely guy selling vegetable seedlings. So of course I succumbed and bought some nice-looking Çanakkale tomato and green pepper seedlings. The peppers are not the hot variety but the ones called çarliston. I am totally open to whatever may happen! After all, this is my first time.
all planted out with tomato and green pepper seedlings |
the bed on the left has been planted with parsley and dill |
So in a flash 3 of the 4 beds are already full! If you have any suggestions for the fourth, please let me know. I am just a novice here ….
That is going to be a beautiful garden. The most I've done is plant some corriander and chervil in pots and some borage in the beds.
I hope so! What is borage in Turkish? And chervil??
It looks so lovely there Claudia. That garden is going to be wonderful x
İnşallah!!!
I love the layout of your garden Claudia. I think the idea of herbs is a great idea? Do you need me to mail you some seed packets from the US?
That is such a kind offer, Michel – thank you! I am going to explore my options here further – there must be more surely!! But I'm glad you like the idea and thanks again 🙂 We'll see how it develops.
i think you could use a good yogurt or low fat sour cream!
What a lovely spot to garden. Have you thought of using low growing boxwood shrubs as they do in English love knot herb gardens. Claudia, I stop by at least once a week but don't always have time to comment. You asked about chipotles. They are smoked and dried jalapeno peppers that can be purchased dry or packed in a a small can with adobo sauce. They add unique flavor to many Mexican dishes. Have a wonderful day. Blessings…Mary
Hello Mary! Thanks so much for coming back and for telling me what on earth chipotles are – don't think we get those here but on the other hand peppers are certainly common. Mexican cooking is a total mystery to me. I need to check out love knot herb gardens!Thank you!
Chervil is "kıvırcık Frenk maydonoz" , I got the seeds from Metro. I don't know what borage is as I brought the seeds from UK, but it does grow very well here and the flowers are lovely in drinks and salads.
And more to the point, they grew! That's fantastic! Also the news about borage – I must persevere although now it may be too late to plant seeds apparently. Thanks for the info though!
i just looked back at this and noticed my first message did not register. i must have typed the code wrong. your garden is fabulous! the brick work is to die for! herbs should grow really well for you there! i can't wait to watch the progress! our part of the world had been invaded by stink bugs so i have not planted vegetables for the last 2 years!
oh gosh is this what lies ahead?? Thanks for the warm encouragement tho – let's see if we can keep everything going :). Just read your comment aloud to TT and he is v chuffed – being the mastermind behind the building of the garden!! Thank you!