rechelle's lifelyrics

There is something very satisfying about plucking a few sprigs off of herbs you have grown and then using them to elevate your cooking from average to amazing! If you think, “I don’t have room for a garden…” this article is for you.

We had 2 or 3 kids in a two-bedroom condominium that had a concrete patio slab for our fenced off yard. My Grandma gave me a set of ceramic seedling pots that she used to keep as her “indoor kitchen garden,” and that was how my love of having fresh herbs in, or near, the kitchen began. Eventually, I graduated to larger sized containers for my herbs since I had a garden window with shelves in our little kitchen.

When we moved from the 2 bedroom condominium to our first home with a yard in Southern California, it was newly built. I had a blank slate for the yard to design patio areas, herb or vegetable garden planter spaces, and grass areas for the kids to play. Of course, the making of those areas didn’t happen right away, so I continued to keep my little herb garden in the kitchen by the window for a few more years.

The only time I didn’t have my herb garden in or near my kitchen was when the 7 of us were living in our motor home at the RV Resort for the first 8 months of our new lives in Eugene, Oregon.

In Southern California, the winters were mild to nonexistent, so I didn’t have to think about basically starting over every year, or how to garden with seasons that actually changed throughout the year. I noticed half barrels for outdoor gardens were very popular in this climate, and decide to make them part of the backyard patio décor with my herbs and vegetables each year. On occasion, some of my herbs have survived the winter and continued to be healthy the following year. It’s always a pleasant surprise!

Last Tuesday (my “Tranquil Tuesday”), I wasn’t feeling so good, but we had just purchased several young herbs and plants from Wilco the night before, and I needed to get them planted. I got out the aluminum shower chair that I saved for just such an occasion, and it was the perfect gardening stool for my task! (In case you’re wondering what an aluminum shower chair is, we purchased it from the medical supply store when I rolled my ankle a few months back so that I could shower without having to stand up, but that’s another story…) It ended up being a beautiful day with a soft breeze, and renewing my little garden was the perfect occupation for my Tranquil Tuesday.

I encourage you to invest in a little herb garden at the scale that is right for your home. Not only is it satisfying to use the herbs you have grown, it is very therapeutic to design and plant a little garden space!