My Passion Project of Starting a Herb Garden
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Natural health has been my passion since I was an engineering student. I was often sick during winter and was accustomed to taking antibiotics. When I moved to university, I had to take care of my health by myself and wasn’t really willing to spend most of my time at the doctor’s office. That’s when I started getting into naturopathy and natural health.
Fast forward a few years, when I was a mom-to-be, I realized I wanted my children to have a healthy natural lifestyle from the start. I became even more serious about organic food and natural medicine. I was already an expert at using homeopathy and started discovering essential oils.
Entrepreneurship and mom life can be pretty overwhelming to juggle. It took me 2 more decades before I could have time to manage a (tiny) garden, with the help of my daughter for inspiration. Of course, my first choice was to grow some herbs for cooking and herbal teas.
I live in Canada, but I spend my spring in the French Alps in our family house, where I have room for my experimental garden. That’s where I created my tiny square of happiness.
My first garden attempt
The first year my daughter and I chose to plant a mix of organic veggies and herbs. Regarding herbs, I went for a mix of “Herbes de Provence” and lavender, as well as some more that I found at my local nursery.
Eventually, I picked up:
- Sage
- Chamomile
- Savory
- Rosemary
- Mint
- Thyme
- Basil
For the veggies, I chose:
- Cherry tomatoes; some non-organic plants but from a local producer (using permaculture)
- Round Zucchinis
- Black Krim heirloom tomatoes
- Greenbeans
- Salads (oakleaf lettuce and lettuce)
Seeds vs. young plants
We actually tried both! We planted seeds for the Oakleaf lettuce but young plants for everything else. The gardening season in the Alps is relatively short. I started my garden in May, quite late, with no greenhouse…
