Weekend herb blogging – garlic update and wedding rosemary

It’s Sunday – time for Weekend Herb Blogging. Thanks to Kalyn for organising it again.

You might remember my day in the garden back in October, when I planted something approaching a metric tonne of garlic in the back garden. It’s now grown leaves, and seems to be doing well – here is some of the garlic which went into beds, and the garlic which went into a pot (the idea here is that I should be able to compare the two in the summer and see which planting method worked better). They’re doing very well – I’ve not had to mulch them, since garlic is frost-hardy down to about -10°C.



The larger plants among the shorter stems of garlic in the top picture are the gigantic elephant garlic. The plants will need fertilising in the early spring, when the bulbs in the ground will start to swell and grow. Can’t wait until they’re ready to eat.

Behind the garlic in the bottom picture is a pot of rosemary. Nothing too unusual about that, you might think, but this is, for me, a very special plant. The rosemary came from my wedding bouquet in 2004. I’d asked the florist for rosemary in among the roses and lily-of-the-valley to reflect the cooking I do – and when we went away on our honeymoon my Mum took the rosemary out of the bouquet (yes, that is me in the picture – if you look closely you can make out the rosemary in among the flowers) and was able to get it to sprout roots in some damp compost. She potted it up and gave it to us when we got back.

The rosemary is growing fiercely a year and a half later (a Spanish friend tells me that a strong rosemary plant outside the house means that there’s a strong woman inside the house). I haven’t cut any of it to cook with yet, and won’t until it’s a bit bushier. The plant is a brilliant reminder of a wonderful day, and it should last, carted around in its pot from house to house as we move, as long as I do.

8 Replies to “Weekend herb blogging – garlic update and wedding rosemary”

  1. I loved reading this! What a wonderful idea to plant the rosemary as a memory of your wedding. Your garlic looks very healthy too. I’ve grown garlic and it’s lovely to have it fresh.

  2. Ow, that’s so romantic. I hope it grows strong…

    Btw, i have a garlic like yours in my garden in a pot on it’s own. So cute. I wonder if it survives…

  3. I loved reading this, too. Love the idea of planting the rosemary. What a great job your mom did. Beautiful photo of the bouquet and pot of herbs.

    Best,
    Paz

  4. Congratulations on the nomination.

    What a wonderful story and such a great idea to have rosemary as part of your bouquet. I’m tempted to remarry my honey just to do that!!!

    Thanks for sharing

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