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Oklahoma Gardening

from pond to herb garden?

19 years ago

Hi, garden friends.

My son and daughter-in-love and I are going to spend next weekend spiffying up their back yard. So, I've been dividing up some things and now have tons of pots of stuff for them on my porch and have also bought a few things.

We know we'll need to amend as we go, but I have a question for those of you creative and knowledgable folks who have tried lots of different ideas, especially with herb gardening.

They have an old, defunct, shallow pond that previous owners built. It's made of concrete, is cracked, and they've tried various things to be able to keep fish in it. The poor fish have either boiled in the hot water or the water has drained out.

So, now they want to turn the pond into a raised herb garden.

I'm thinking we will need to put a layer of sand or gravel in the bottom just to help with drainage, but what would you recommend for the rest of the soil? I know enough not to use too rich a mix with herbs, but what would you use besides their regular sandy yard soil (which is nutrient deficient) and some commercial compost? Grit? And if grit, where do I get that?

Help! Please?

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Comments (4)

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
19 years ago
OKC1,

It sounds like a good workable plan. I guess mixing the commercial compost in with the sandy yard soil will fix the nutrient deficiency problem, won't it? As far as something gritty, that sounds good too...but where to get it? My best guess would be to call and ask at places that sell landscaping rock or gravel. Sometimes they carry finely pulverized rock like decomposed granite or something.

And the "base" that is put down underneath gravel driveways is a great growing medium. It looks like a mixture of sand and tiny rocks...or maybe it is clay-y sand and tiny rocks. They put down a couple of inches of it and then put larger gravel on it for the driveways. (Can you tell I am in a really, really, really rural area?) Stuff grows in that base like crazy. It provides good drainage and yet seems to hold enough moisture for the plants to thrive. I wish I had it all over my yard!

Some of my prettiest self-sown seedlings (chamomile, red Texas hummingbird sage, hollyhocks, zinnias, etc., )pop up in that driveway base at the edge of and in the middle of the driveway. It might give you the grittiness you need in order to have good drainage for the herbs.

Dawn
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OKC1
Original Author
19 years ago
Cool!
I'll see if I can find some cheap driveway grit versus expensive herb garden grit. Thanks, Dawn. (0:
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OKC1
Original Author
19 years ago
Wow!
Good advice. Thanks a bunch!
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