Comment

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on November 9, 2012 at 10:35pm

My tecomaria is blooming again. Seems to bloom twice a year, and this time the bees have finally found it.

Comment by Idaho Spud on November 8, 2012 at 3:50pm

Sentient, If my brother was still with us, he could probably tell us whether those mushrooms are edible or not.  He was an amateur, but he probably knew more about mushrooms than anyone in Idaho.  Maybe some other states as well!

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 8, 2012 at 2:39am

Chris, thanks for the information. I will give Rosemary another try this year. Plants have a way of telling us what they want, so I shall listen. 

Comment by Chris Breman on November 8, 2012 at 2:09am

I had heard that rosemary preferred dry conditions too, but I knew a 5 year old rosemary bush that grew near a ditch on clay, just above the water line: it was planning to take over the neighbourhood...

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 8, 2012 at 1:53am

Chris, how do you do it? I have bought supermarket Rosemary and it dries up and gets bitter before I use it up. I have not been able to grow it outside over winter, but it does well in the summer. 
I have a sunny window, a grow light, and different methods of watering, i.e. wicking pads, saucers, the usual stuff one does with indoor plants. 

I thought they preferred dry; do you keep your wet? Maybe there is hope yet. 

Comment by Chris Breman on November 8, 2012 at 1:06am

Rosemary can stand frost and a lot of wet, but perhaps I'm only lucky with it. I'm used to buying a small cheap potted rosemary in the supermarket, I use it in cooking and put the plant in a flowerbox. They grow like weeds and take over the whole box. When they become too big I give them to a friend who has got a garden - last time I looked at her garden one rosemary bush covered more than a square metre and was abour 60 cm high. 

Comment by Joan Denoo on November 7, 2012 at 11:25pm

Regina M, growing herbs is so much fun and rewarding. I live in USDA zone 5 in Spokane, WA. Many of my herbs are annual here and some reseed so I don't have to bother about buying them, I just collect what I need for next year and let the birds have the rest. The only herbs I like and you haven't listed are

Parsley, I grow lots of it, all over the garden because it is so delicious and pretty and easy to dry for winter use. It also grows all winter if there is a sheltered place. Sometimes I dig under the snow to get enough for Yule turkey stuffing. 

Borage, an incredible blue flower that self-seeds. It dies back every winter leaving behind some nice seeds for the birds.

Caraway and coriander made such pretty plants, beautiful leaves, nice big juicy seeds that self-sow. 

Dill is a must for a lot of dishes, especially Scandinavian recipes. It tastes good just to chomp on as wandering along the pathways. 

Fennel, a wonderful plant, an annual here. It grows about 6 feet tall in my garden and the bees cover it with their lovely soft sounds. 

Thyme, many kinds, flavors and colors. Very easy to dry for winter. Some plants survive, seeds always self-sow. 

I agree with Sentient, Peppermint, Spearmint, Catmint, invade aggressively but kept in pots around the garden are pure joy. 

I don't have any luck with Rosemary, although I love the flavor. It is an annual here, and I can't seem to keep it inside more than a month or so. 

Happy Herb gardening. 

Comment by Sentient Biped on November 7, 2012 at 6:40pm

Idaho Spud, you are right about the mushrooms.  Very observant!  There are several big patches of mushrooms popping up, now that the fall rains have started.  Not going to eat them.  No idea what's toxic and what's not.

Comment by Sentient Biped on November 7, 2012 at 6:38pm

Regina, it's about what ever you enjoy!  Herbs and flowers are cool!  

Your choices are great!  flavor-wise, basil is my favorite, but I also love rosemary.  Mints are invasive weeds here (zone 8) but I grow them anyway for the smell and for their friendliness to beneficial insects and bees.  Lemon balm is also invasive here, but nice to smell the leaves.  The hens won't eat lemon balm leaves.

I like letting mints invade the lawn so I can smell it when I mow.  Not that I have much lawn.  

My parents grew basil in Illinois as an annual.  Fresh, it's amazing on tomatoes.  I love eating basil.  You can get it in green and purple, small leaf and big.  I like the standard big leaf basil.  Great for pesto.

With culinary herbs, there aren't a whole lot of them, so you can collect "almost everything" pretty quickly.  

Lavender is another one that smells great, but may not survive Zone 5 winters.  

Violets would fit nicely with herbs, are perennial, and the flowers are edible.  

Comment by Regina M on November 5, 2012 at 3:09pm

I have to make a confession. I recently had an epiphany about my garden: I don't give a hoot about vegetables. So next year, I'm going to expand the perennial herbs into three rows instead of one, grow more flowers, and maybe stick a tomato and pepper plant in there for giggles. I have a huge asparagus patch that I've been waiting to be able to pick (next spring-woohoo!), and maybe I'll put in some lettuce/radish/arugula so there will be some veggies. But no more multiples of anything, no more "I will take over your garden whether you like it or not" cherry tomatoes, no more beans. I buy or trade for veggies at the farmers market (I'm a vendor), so getting them isn't an issue. I want to concentrate on the herbs! So does anyone have suggestions for things that are out of the ordinary? What I have so far: chives (regular and garlic), oregano, sage (russian, purple, and something else that might be dead), lovage, english thyme, sorrel, marjoram, french tarragon, peppermint. I'm in the mid-west, zone 5.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 70
• 71
• 72
• 73
• 74
• …
• 128
• Next ›
• Page