How to make your garden as beautiful as The Shakespeare Garden
by Charles Barnette

If you love an old fashioned herb garden, a trip to The Shakespeare Garden in the Blount Cultural Park may prove just the inspiration needed to get started on your home garden. One of seven major Shakespearean Gardens in the U.S., the plot is filled with herbs and antique plants around for hundreds of years.

Master Gardener Karen Weber, who looks after The Shakespeare Garden, says it takes lots of hours to have a beautiful garden. But if you plan ahead and choose the correct plants that will grow in tough Alabama prairie soil, the results will be a summer full of sheer pleasure.

Weber, who offers gardening tips to volunteers who join her each week in the gardens, says a key to a successful home garden is to prepare the soil properly before plunking a plant into the ground. "If you add compost or organic matter and remember to water, fertilize, dead head and battle the weeds, you can keep on top of the garden while the weather is still cool and enjoy it all summer long."

Originally from Ohio, Weber marvels at the great weather here. "Get out now while the days are nice and beautiful," she says. "Don't wait until May to plant, when it is hot. The plants need to get an established root system before it gets hot. Weather coincides with the work, and things slow down in the summer. There's always a possibility of a spring freeze, but err on the side of caution," she adds.

Weber says The Shakespeare Garden is true to its mission. Formed of herbs and antique plants, everything in the garden is related to his writings and those plants typical of an authentic English garden. While it is not a brilliant planting, she says there is color in the garden in most any season.

The lavender have spectacular purple blue flowers. The marigolds are considered herbs and an annual flower. Pansies are not an herb, but a Shakespearean plant. During the winter, vegetables such as cabbages, and lettuces have offered beautiful color deep red and green lettuces, and purple cabbage, mixed with the ever popular pansies have been spectacular this season. They are colorful and can be harvested for salads. "Even the violas can be sprinkled on the salad for color."

Gardens in Shakespearean days were practical, not for show. Typically the plants were used to eat, for medicinal purposes, or for aromatic use to make their homes and clothes smell better. "Gardening in medieval times was a necessity, not for fun or a society thing." According to Weber, "Today, we can have both. The joy from the taste and the fragrance while preparing food and eating it are well worth the effort."

The summer Shakespeare garden, to be planted in April, will have even more color from marigolds, fox gloves, yellow lilies, irises, and roses. "The key to a successful year-round garden is to plan ahead so there is something growing in every season, even winter, which is mild in Alabama."

How to Care for an Herb Garden

Weber prefers that herbs be planted in the ground, but pots are fine, she adds, if you have good soil in them. You can move the pots to wherever the sun is correct or for decorative purposes. The disadvantage is that pots dry out more quickly because they're more exposed to the air around them. Pots simply require more daily attention.

In The Shakespeare Garden, wattle fences, typical of those used in the 16th century to keep out livestock from the gardens, separate the various plantings and form the triangular shapes used throughout the garden. Similar breaks and shapes can be achieved in the home garden today with boxwood or bricks. The twisted wattle fences and trellises were made by craftsman Marc Stinchcomb, who owns Marc's Vine Yard in Millbrook.

Garden Volunteers Learn Tips

Gardeners can pick up tips from Master Gardener Karen Weber and often leave with a few specimens from a morning of volunteer work at The Shakespeare Gardens every Thursday from 9 am to noon. Interested volunteers are encouraged to call the Cultural Park office at 274-0062, ext. 202, at least a day before, so activities can be planned for them, but anyone is encouraged to meet at the Garden Pavilion at 9 am.

Volunteers have mostly been area master gardeners, but that is not a requirement, says Weber. Master gardeners are required to commit 40 hours of garden service to the community, and this is an ideal place to do it. She indicates about 85 people are currently in gardening classes offered though county offices of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System in the tri-county area. Graduates become part of the Alabama Master Gardener Volunteer Program and commit to 20 hours of community garden service a year.

Typically five to ten volunteers work the garden weekly, but more will be needed as they change the plants to summer annuals. "It requires a strong back and a willing heart, but the results will lift the spirit and perhaps inspire gardeners to create their own garden scape," states Weber.

What You Can Use Herbs For

Herb: Basil
Main Use: Salads, soups and casseroles with tomatoes, fish, chicken, or lamb.
Medicinal Use: a tonic against rheumatism, eases stomach pains.

Herb: Bay Leaf
Main Use: Used to flavor soups, meats, tomato sauces and casseroles.
Medicinal Uses: used externally for sprains and bruises.

Herb: Chervil
Main Use: Egg and fish dishes, sauces, salads, and butters.
Medicinal Use: Lowers blood pressure, diuretic.

Herb: Chives
Main Use: Egg, cheese and vegetable dishes, soups and salads.
Medicinal Use: appetite enhancer.

Herb: Cilantro
Main Use: Sauces, curries, and chutney.
Medicinal Use: Good for digestion.

Herb: Dill
Main Use: Potatoes, salmon, pickles, sour cream sauces.
Medicinal Use: Aids digestion.

Herb: Fennel
Main Use: Anise flavor used in pickles, biscuits, fish or pork.
Medicinal Use: Appetite stimulant.

Herb: Lavender
Main Use: Fruit salads and grill meats. Best know for its use in cosmetics and toiletries.
Medicinal Use: Antidepressant in aromatherapy, lowers blood pressure.

Herb: Parsley
Main Use: Garnishes, flavoring for many foods.
Medicinal Use: General tonic, bad breath.

Herb: Thyme
Main Use: Stuffings, roasts; Oil of thyme is used for perfumes.
Medicinal Use: An expectorant, antibacterial and antiseptic. Gargle to ease sore throat.

Source: Farmers' Almanac 2000