what's in your herb garden ??

[coolJ]

This is the first year that I'm actually getting serious about gardening in general, especially herbs. I'm going to wind up having two planter boxes, in the one, i'm growing dill weed, parsley, chives, going to add basil and oregano, and in the other one I will be growing mint, keeping it seperate to avoid an invasion, I have a peppermint plant and want to put a spearmint plant in with it and see if they cross pollenate. That's what's in my herb garden, what kinds are you growing ??.

[Pete]

I haven't really planned my herb garden, yet, for this year, but already my 2 sage plants, 2 chives, 2 lemon balm, tarragon, creeping thyme, and Anise Hyssop have all returned.

[mudbug]

Peppermint and spearmint do not cross-pollinate, so the species remain pure... how about adding chervil, sage, cilantro, garlic chives, lemon balm, English mint, fennel, & bay laurel?

[coolJ]

thanks for the heads up on the mint. Only thing with adding the other herbs, is that I would never use them and I don't like to see things getting wasted.

[phoebe]

Right now I have some stunted dill; sweet, Genovese, and African blue basils; chives, lemon and English thymes, Italian parsley, marjoram, spearmint mint, and the last of some cilantro.
I'm waiting for the arrival of catmint, French tarragon, pineapple sage, Autumn Sage Big Pink, lemon verbena, and burnet.
I also grew a good-sized lemon balm plant, only to find that people who take thyroid meds aren't supposed to use lemon balm. It's not a particularly interesting looking plant, so I'm not sure what to do with it. I'll see if any of my friends would like it, but most of the women I know are on Levoxyl too!

[bryn]

Herb gardens are for people who want to experiment! Spearmint is necessary this time of year for mint Juleps. First, put one cup of sugar and one cup of water in a sauce pan and boil 'til clear. Cool. Second, muddle some mint in a glass with some of this sugar syrup. Choose a sturdy glass and a wooden utensil as muddler. Pour bourbon. Top with crushed iced. Watch the Kentucky Derby! Pretend you are in Kentucky wearing a big hat and thouroughbreds are racing the track. I like my proportion to be 1 part sugar syrup to 4 parts bourbon. Experiment to taste.

[Camembert]

I have a few herbs.

Some are doing well and some not so.

I have Greek Basil, Garlic Chives, Coriander and Rosemary in my 'sunny' pot.

I then have Chocolate Mint and Italian Parsley in my 'shady' pot.

I love herbs!

[mudbug]

What herbs are in the garden so far this year?

Let's see... Italian parsley, rosemary, basil, lemon balm, golden lemon balm, golden sage, sage, tri-color sage, golden oregano, Greek oregano, Italian oregano, ginger mint, English mint, emerald & gold mint, fennel, bronze fennel, apple mint, rose scented thyme, nigella, bay laurel, thyme, corsican mint, horseradish, Mexican tarragon, Vietnamese Cilantro, catnip, chives, garlic chives, welsh onion, egyptian walking onions, lemon grass, mexican oregano, cuban oregano, mexican sage, 13 varieties of heirloom garlic, lovage... comfrey, tansy, feverfew, wormwood, grey indian mint, pennyroyal, pineapple sage, catmints...

Can you tell I love herbs?

[phoebe]

Oh Mudbug, these are fabulous! My one experience with oregano seemed to suggest that it was prone to being invasive. Not as bad as mint, but it clearly didn't respect the personal space of other plants . How have you planted your FIVE varieties? And what's with having only one basil? You really don't care for tomatoes do you .

[shroomgirl]

Thai and Sweet basils
Tarragon that amazingly wintered over outside and is THRIVING gloriously
rosemary
lemon thyme
I really want sorrel and lemon verbena....into sour can you tell?

[mudbug]

phoebe,
It's last night went down to 35 degrees here. That's why I don't have multiple varieties of basil out yet, they just won't grow well.

As for tomatoes, I'd have to compile my list. It's not that I don't care for tomatoes, it's just that I never liked any my whole life until I grew my own and tried the Cherokee Purple Heirloom variety. I didn't post veggies here since the question was about herbs... But I do have several heirloom varieties of tomatoes this year...

As for the oregano, it does increase in yield nicely. But it's easy to keep under control. I have plenty for my own culinary use, to dry, to share with friends or exchange thru garden forums for things I don't have. It doesn't go as crazy as mint...



shroomgirl,
What type of soil is your tarragon in? I assume it's French (and not Russian) tarragon? Is it in full sun? Part shade? Container or ground? I'm not far from you and I and many others have a difficult time getting tarragon to overwinter.

How's the produce at the farmer's market this year? What's new up there?

[Pete]

Shroomgirl, my Tarragon also came back and is thriving, even with the 27 degree weather we had a few nights ago. I am going to have to cut it back soon or it may just go to seed!!!

[Pete]

Just added to the herbs, in my yard: Peppermint, Spearmint, Chocolate Mint, Catnip, 3 kinds of basil, lavender, Roman Chamomile, German Chamomile, Rosemary, Dill (volunteers from last year's plant), and a few more thymes. I am also planting 4-6 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and am putting in 4 raspberry bushes (2 red, 2 black) and 2 grape vines.

[coolJ]

I just picked up some oregano and basil plants today, as well as another mint plant, it was labelled as corsican mint. anyway I do have one question, my peppermint plant is turning a deep red almost burgundy color, is this normal ??. BTW, I also found out that corn grows pretty fast as well, i got some starter plants from the garden store about 10 days ago, they were about an inch high, now they are almost eight inchs, having never grown corn, this seems like a pretty rapid growth rate.

[phoebe]

Originally Posted by coolJ

my peppermint plant is turning a deep red almost burgundy color, is this normal ??.

Jeez Louise, that doesn't sound good! There's a rust mints get, but it's spotty rather than fully flushed: http://www.extension.umn.edu/project.../mintrust.html

But last night I ran across a note in Garden Gate magazine (April 2004). Someone wrote in that the leaves on their marigold seedlings "often turn purple." The answer was that "purple stems and leaves on seedlings may be a sign that you're planting too early." The color is linked with a nutrient deficiency that occurs when the soil is cold--"plants have a hard time taking up phosphorus." As the weather warms up, some plants recover while others may not. You could heat up the soil with black plastic if the plant looks too sick.