Bob's Herb Garden

I have written before about our wonderful neighbor, Bob. He's the neighbor who is endlessly patient with his great-granddaughter, and the neighbor who does all of that gardening, in his yard, on the street, and in the Amesbury community garden. He shares his produce with his neighbors and plants special crops when he hears that someone likes a particular vegetable. Just ask Neil, who easy received 10 pounds of beets from Bob last summer, because of a casual comment that he made in Bob's presence, about how he likes pickled beets.

 Last summer Bob had a few herbs growing in containers at the end of his driveway. His basil was like a sapling and it would reach out and slap you as you walked by, grabbing you, drawing you into its leaves. Bob said that he didn't even really know what basil was...It's just there. No one's using it. Get some whenever you like. So, I did. Come late summer, I would often find myself in the middle of dinner preparations, realize that the dish would be better with fresh basil...and I'd grab a pair of scissors and head down to Bob's house. At the end of last summer Bob told Neil that he was thinking of making an "herb garden" at the end of his drive next season.

 Well, it's now "next season" and Bob is true to his word. I heard that Bob had planted some herbs and even remarked to him that his basil looked good. This week he stopped me and asked what I think of rosemary - I replied that it's one of my favorite herbs and I use it quite a bit when I cook. What did I find when I visited his yard a few days later? Rosemary. Oh, Bob. In all, he has planted four different herbs in pots at the end of his drive. Plus, there is a volunteer herb that comes back every year, "But, I don't know what it is! Hell, it just keeps coming back! I don't know what to do with it!" Basil and rosemary for me; dill for Richard; parsley and what I have determined to be sage, for all. 
Baby basil...just wait until the end of the season!

The rosemary that Bob just planted for me. Aw. 

Dill, which Bob planted for Richard.

I have determined this to be sage. Am I right?

Curly parsley...just getting started. 

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