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Do You Grow Your Own Herbs? - Page 2

post #31 of 71
10/17/07 at 12:14pm
Odd note--the science/ecology teacher at my school told me to put the cilantro seeds in the freezer for a few days before planting. I don't know what that was supposed to do, but the plants grew! Naturally, with my luck, the bugs took over once things were growing. But it was odd.
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post #32 of 71
10/17/07 at 2:44pm
Thread Starter 
Some seeds need a cold dormancy before planting, to promote germination. It's possible cilantro is one of them. Although I've always just planted it.
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post #33 of 71
10/25/07 at 4:21am
We use a green house for all my herbs.. we start them all from seeds, and some of those we transplant into our garden... some we don't

We grow queen basil, bush, licorise, lemon basil.. these were hybrid seeds and they all grew wonderfully! we also grow cilantro, chives, and various types of mixed greens for salad... but living in Canada and with our winters the green house only helps the growing process last only a little longer.... btw- my hubby just takes the seeds dries them and then puts them in a dark place for the winter... don't think he has ever put any of them in a freezer
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post #34 of 71
11/10/07 at 7:32am
Once you grow your own do you need to dry them as well? And how long do they last if you do?

If you have to buy your own, what do you buy for best quality?
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post #35 of 71
11/10/07 at 11:12am
I don't think cilantro seeds (coriander) need a cold dormancy to grow; where I grew up it never got below about 40 degrees and cilantro grew really well.
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post #36 of 71
11/11/07 at 6:56am
Thread Starter 
Depends how and where you grow them, CastIronCook.

If you grow them in pots there's no reason not to just bring them indoors and let them continue growing.

Otherwise, yeah, once cut you have to either dry or freeze them. Otherwise they don't last much past a couple of days.
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post #37 of 71
11/11/07 at 8:33am
Thanks brother...what brand of spices do you buy? do you order them online for the best stuff or is any brand OK as long as you cook it right?
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post #38 of 71
11/27/07 at 6:47pm
the builders left a set of wooden steps at work... chef has decided he wants to use it to grow our own herbs... "adds to the 'fresh factor'" he says

personally i dont think any sun gets to the little space hes thinking of... but do you really need that much sunlight to grow herbs?

mostly gonna be some kind of basil, mint, chef wants flat leaf, but ill put in round leaf parsley "oops... is that round leaf then?" thyme, sage, rosemary, i think thats it... its all gonna have to be pot grown... like i said, its gonna be on a set of steps (four or five 1' X 4' wooden steps)
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post #39 of 71
12/27/07 at 1:16am
I do grow my own herb in the kitchen garden this facilitate me to grow as per my requirement and also keeps me away from the tension of not getting on time .
It is very easy to maintain .
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post #40 of 71
12/27/07 at 10:20am

Herb garden

Hi seraphim,
I have sage, tyme, basil and rosemary in my gardens. Only the rosemary is in the sunny part of the yard. The others are in the back yard planted by the house and they don't get much sun. They are all 9 or so years old. If you use pots and it gets frosty out, wrap the pots in old towels or blankets until it warms up again. They should be ok unless you live where it get below freezing for months at a time.
Hope they grow well for you. Fresh herbs are so wonderful.
Happy kitchen,
realistic cook
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post #41 of 71
12/29/07 at 9:34am
I have the same problem with a short growing season.
What I like to do is rince real good and remove large stems.
Then ball up fresh herbs wile wet and freese in good ziploc bag.
If you do a few bags like this during the summer you will make
it till spring easely.It lasts a long time when frozen nice and wet.
All I do is pull what ever type I want to use out and shave a
little off with a knife then back into the bag and into the freezer.
Just make sure you use the bags you can right on since they can
all look alike when frozen.Presantation is not the same but flavor
is almost as good as fresh.This is very easy and can last all winter.
Much easer and taste better then dring IMO.My freezer has shelves
on the doors this is the perfict spot and keeps them seperate.
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post #42 of 71
3/17/08 at 3:10pm
I have sage and dill growing in the soil in the garden outside and I didn't have to cover them up when it snows. It doesn't seem to bother them. On pots I have rosemary, oregano, rosemary, thyme, the necessities. I know it is not a herb but I also have pots and pots of aloe vera.

My question is -- I live here in Missouri where we have frost up to middle of May, can I plant rosemary, oregano and thyme on the ground and winterize them, too...?? (My parsley died during the winter outside and so my basil...) I will want to put in some mint too this year after the frost is over and am ready for gardening again...
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post #43 of 71
3/18/08 at 8:34am

Harty perenal herbs

I sujest you first figure out what zone your in.Then check the lable
on the plants to see if there safe out doors in your zone.If not I would
look into hybreeds that are harty in your area.There are varietys of
rosemary,oregano and I think thyme developed to survive cold winters.
Parsley is not a woody plant like the others not sure about the aloe vera.
I have noticed some plants that are borderline ok for my zone will survive
sometimes if planted very close to our house and covered with mulch.
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post #44 of 71
3/19/08 at 7:18pm
Thanks for the advice...I will try again this year.
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post #45 of 71
3/19/08 at 7:39pm
Your welcome:roll:
Any time and good luck :crazy:
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post #46 of 71
3/24/08 at 7:03pm
:cool: I always grow my own herbs, they are the best, I am growing at the moment: Basil,Parsley(both curley and Italian ), Chives, and Rosemary and lavender ( if thats a herb ), but I love it anyway. It all tastes better when Home grown.:smiles:
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post #47 of 71
4/8/08 at 12:08pm
Recently I bought a package of chive seeds, just for something to start off with. Today, I potted them and put them on the window. If they start to grow, heh :P, I'll put them outside in a bigger pot on my patio. Then, I'll try to grow other herbs. :)
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post #48 of 71
4/8/08 at 1:35pm
Thread Starter 
Welcome to ChefTalk, Doughgirl.

Don't be disappointed if those chives don't grow. Alliums are difficult to start from seed, in the first place. And perennial alliums usually are fall-planted, as they are the earliest things to come up in the fall.

When starting alliums from seed, you usually do so indoors, under lights, about two months before transplanting time---which itself can be as much as 6 weeks before last frost. For instance, down here in Kentucky, I set onion seed in January, for a March transplant.

If possible, I would see if I could find an already potted start of chives, and use that instead. Meanwhile, you can start thinking about summer herbs, such as basil, which is much easier to start from seed.
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post #49 of 71
4/8/08 at 1:53pm
I wouldn't be able to plant my seeds outside yet anyway. There's still snow up to my knees in my garden. Plus, we're building a new house soon. So once we get settled there, or if I move out on my own, I'll start a little herb garden. Thanks for the info though! :)
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post #50 of 71
4/14/08 at 12:50pm
Just planted my herbs inside from seeds....thyme sprouting already. Weather in NJ is not ready for outside but as soon as my starters are ready to be replanted should be about the same time I can move them outside. I'll still keep a pot or 3 in the kitchen though but the rest will go on a cart outside.

I do one of those "50" little peat pots things to start.

usually ~4 of each herb.
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post #51 of 71
4/22/08 at 7:11am

Lucky!!

Now that weather is breaking here in MD and I've cleared the garden, it turns out my thyme overwintered with no ill effect at all! And the mint, chives, oregano, and tarragon that I thought had been obliterated in our 100 deg. heat wave last year are poking their heads up. I even yanked up the (I thought) dead marjoram and found a root ball full of sprouts!:D
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post #52 of 71
5/6/08 at 8:10am
I wud love to but we do not have place in the apartment where we live in :( But back in India (My native) We have a garden surrounding my house where we grow different kinds of spinach and few herbs for which I dont know the english term. I only know how they are called in my native language...I truely miss my garden.
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post #53 of 71
5/6/08 at 11:02am
Thread Starter 
Sankum,

Many herbs will do just fine in a small pot on the windowsill. You might give that a try.

One apartment we lived in didn't have sills, as such. So I just rigged narrow shelves out of 4-inch wide boards, and they served just fine.
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post #54 of 71
5/6/08 at 12:14pm
I planted onion chives that I bought at Rural King early last summer. They did well until the first hard frost and this year, I've already harvested a large handful. They're almost ready to harvest again!

I also planted rosemary and lavendar last year. Those plants grew well all summer and I mulched them in the fall. They did not survive the winter. I'm really disappointed especially with the rosemary. I wanted to get it up large enough to use the stems as skewers. I guess it just got too cold for them.

I plan to plant more basil, cilantro, and parsley this year. Those grew very well except I had a hard time keeping the basil and cilantro from bolting. I was able to freeze some for use in soups and sauces this winter. I want to get mint this year as well. I grew dill but didn't find many uses for it so probably won't waste the space again this year. We're just not a dill family!
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post #55 of 71
5/15/08 at 5:13pm
Plant an Arp Rosemary. They'll take zone 5 winters. They still benefit from some southern exposure in the winter and like a little water if it's too dry. Lots of heavy snow can play some havoc with them though.
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post #56 of 71
5/15/08 at 5:25pm
Have you tried searching the web using your best attempt at English spelling for these non-English words? If you know the Hindi names, that might be more successful. I would be interested to know, and I know the Hindi names for a few herbs. For example, dhaniya is cilantro.

I haven't tried this site for Telugu to English (I believe you said your native language is Telugu?) but here it is Word AnyWhere: Hindi English and Other Indian Languages Dictionary
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post #57 of 71
5/16/08 at 5:27am
I'll have to try and find that type. We did get a good bit of snow this year. I really was surprised that it didn't come back. That plant was just beautiful and so green up until around Christmas, then the heavy snows and ice came in. It never ended up laying flat like the lavendar but just lost all it's leaves and never budded. Thanks for the recommendation!

I live in the lake effect area of NE Indiana so we do get some heavy snows. Last year was a more brutal winter than any I've seen since I moved to this state in 1998.
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post #58 of 71
6/4/08 at 9:37am
I started Growing fresh herbs this year from seeds. Having to run to the international market everytime I needed fresh Thai Basil was driving me nuts. So I planted, Chives, Parsley, Thyme, Rosemary, Thai Basil and Sweet Basil. I have some in planters on my kitchen window sill and some in outside hanging planters on the fence (wish my townhouse yard was big enough for a real garden). Whether its the massive amounts of rain or the blistering sun we've had over the past few weeks the Outside stuff is doing horrid, the inside stuff is doing incredible. Since I started them late and from seeds, what I have is not quite big enough to use yet. I do have a question though....My Basils (the herb I use the most) will they spread like mint does? Or will I need to replant in order to keep a good supply?
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post #59 of 71
6/4/08 at 4:36pm
Thread Starter 
No, you're basil won't spread like mint.

Basil is a tender annual, propagated from seed. In some locales it will self-seed, and you'll get a new crop the following year. But don't count on it happening. Plan on replanting each year.

Mints are propagated by cuttings, and grow off of risomes. That's why they're so invasive. It's almost always a good idea to enclose mints, or they take over the garden.
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post #60 of 71
6/4/08 at 5:00pm
ugh, that kinda sucks......guess I need to come up with a new plan considering all the basil I go through. These small planters aren't going to hold me over but for a few meals. (usually about 1/4 cup chopped thai basil). Man I really need a bigger yard :)
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