Lavender and other Herbs

To borrow a favorite phrase from our local talk radio host, "Happy Friday all y'all!"  Whew, I am glad this week is almost over!  Its just been too busy!  I've gotten almost nothing done all week, my house is a wreck!  However, I am rectifying that today!  I am up, I have had a healthy fruit and protein packed smoothie for breakfast.  The dishwasher is running, the washer and dryer are running, a turkey is in the oven, the trash out (almost forgot it was trash day, again), I am on a roll!  Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and show you a little something I've been working on outside.  I could have had it done much sooner, but I usually only get to work on it in little blocks of time, and well, I HATE working outside when it is 90+, its just too hot for me.  So, without further ado, here it is!

Last year I planted 6 lavender plants against our house.  Four survived the winter, and hubby accidentally hacking one with the weed eater!  I would eventually like to have lavender all the way down the side of the house, but for now I have 8 lavender plants, and various herbs.  The herbs were supposed to go here, oh and by the way, this is what that lavender bed looked like before I spent an entire (yes the whole thing, well, okay okay only about 5 hours) Saturday working on pulling out weeds.

See my poor spider wart covered with wild morning glories?

Can I just take a minute to say that I hate wild morning glories?  Really I do.  I know some of you are thinking "how can you hate such a pretty flower?"  Wild morning glories are impossible to kill!!  You pull them out, and if you don't get every single piece of the roots, another one will come up.  You can pull them, and hours later they are back.  Seriously!  Okay, well maybe not hours, but a day or two later, you will find more popping up.  Anyway....

The lavender that survived, plus one I replanted.

As you can see the bed fore the herbs was not ready, but as usual I jumped the gun and bought the plants, so I put them in the lavender bed.  I have 4 types of thyme, sage, and oregano, 2 types of rosemary (hoping one will survive the winter!), 1 basil, 1 fennel, and 2 parsley plants.  I really love to cook with fresh herbs.  Especially a roasted turkey or chicken with fresh herbs!  Yummy!

I added the gravel because lavender don't like water to sit on their roots, they can rot very easily.  Most herbs also don't like tons of water, the gravel helps disperse the water, and also helps keep it from evaporating as fast.  I am hoping the gravel will also discourage the weeds, but I have my doubts. 
It does feel good to one flower bed done!  Let me tell you, when your yard is a blank slate, it is hard to figure out what you want to do!
Hope you all are having a great Friday!  See you on Monday!
Melissa