This is the stock bed at the concept stage  last year, and this is the same bed in May when things were beginning to move.

By September, it looked like this:

a bit overgrown and weedy, but you can see that there are more plants, everything has grown bigger and sprawled about a lot, and the new chamomile bed, which started off as one plant in a pot I bought at the Gardening Scotland show, is in full flower. It’s only two feet by four at this point, but I never thought I’d be able to have a chamomile lawn at all, so I’m happy.

I never thought I’d be able to have a knot garden either, but look:

This has bedded in now, and seems to be coping with the cold and wet. I realise that I am in for more meticulous weeding than I generally care for, to maintain the clear outlines of such a formal bed, but I’m sure the discipline will be good for me.

I’m hoping to keep up the knot garden next year, double the size of the chamomile lawn, and create some more exciting planting combinations with the plants that have matured. I had hoped to add a cutting bed, and have flowers for drying, but reality intervened, and there won’t be room for that sort of caper. I’ll just be growing what I’ve been growing, only with more attention, and trying to make good use of the many curious and interesting plants that I have managed to come by.

I have drawn up a list of the herbs in the territory – some wild as well as the ones I grow on purpose: It’s a pdf. file here – herb list. That should keep me busy!

Happy New Year everybody!