Most people will say that location is a big part of siting your herb garden — or any garden, for that matter.
But while you are thinking of sun, soil, and an out of the way location as major factors for siting your herb garden, there are other catastrophes waiting to happen that you’ll probably never think of.
We planted our first herb garden this year near the 6-foot fence in our backyard. It was out of the way of the lawn mower and fit nicely into the fence line next to our birdbath in the corner of the fence.
There was just one problem that we never considered — the top of the fence. You see, all of the fences in the neighborhood were linked together due to the HOA restrictions. The squirrels loved to use the top of the fence as a “Squirrel Highway” because it was safe from predators and a fast way to get around.
So last week, we were happily watching the squirrels scamper around like usual when we saw the predator in wait. A hungry raccoon wanted squirrel stew and had found a way to climb up on top of the fence to pounce on a squirrel. But it was out-matched. Getting onto the fence top wasn’t too hard, but the raccoon was too big and klutzy to balance on the skinny fence top.
As we watched in dismay, the raccoon tumbled off of the fence into our yard. Right onto the birdbath — the edge of the birdbath. It couldn’t have aimed any better if it had tried.
So the stupid raccoon hits the birdbath in full free-fall and smashes the top of the bird’s precious bath right off of the base.
And of course both the birdbath and the raccoon land directly on top of the herb garden plantings and smash all of my precious herbs into smithereens!
So the motto of this story is that the next time you are thinking about where to plant your garden, consider the dangers of animals and their antics. I sure will be.