Making my herb garden

I've been dreaming of a herb garden since I moved into my house and with J&K growing vegetables in my garden now, I was inspired to stop dreaming and get on with it lol.

I'd booked a week off work, and planned to spend some of that doing this. Day one was sunny, warm and the ground was dry and hard as nails lol. I dug about half of the patch and then had to stop for the day.

Day two was drizzling, but I was determined to carry on, and actually the moisture seemed to make the digging easier and I got the rest of it dug up. The ground here is very clay-y, with flint and chalk stones. So after I'd dug the patch out and de-turfed it, I spent a good couple of hours going through it with a fork, trying to break up all of the chunks of clay.

Finally, I got to a point where it was manageable. Still quite lumpy, but I was running out of energy. I dug in a few buckets of compost.

I could do with some edging, but I'm trying to re-use and make-do rather than buying new things and I'd already spent money on the herbs. Hopefully I can get hold of some wood from somewhere. =)

Herbs planted. There's a bit of space for the oregano to go once the cuttings have taken root (hopefully lol).

Top row is spearmint, garden mint, chives (2 lots), coriander (2 lots). Middle row is lavender, fennel, thyme, basil (2 lots, one is very very tiny). Bottom row is rosemary (2 lots, larger one looking a bit worse for wear, I'm hoping it will pick up now it has more space to grow), sage (1 purple, 1 green) and parsley (1 curly at the top and 1 italian flat).

I also potted up some wild strawberries. I went to visit my grandad yesterday, and he and his wife gave me a tomato plant and two squash/courgette (they weren't sure which was which) plants, so I'm planning to just get a grow-bag on the patio to stick those in.

Don't think my body will be able to handle anymore digging anytime soon. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and the day after I'd finished the herb patch, my right hand was pretty seized up and the fingers swollen. Worth it though. I'm very proud of my efforts and hopefully the oregano will just finish it off nicely. =D