Five Easy Herbs
One of the things that’s going to be very hot in the gardening world this year is the grow-your-own garden. We’re talking filling up your garden with plants you’re going to use – to eat, to spice up your cooking, or to decorate with. This week, I want to bring a few really no-work herbs to your attention. These are plants that belong in every garden, even if they’re only tucked here and there among your other plants. You see you really don’t need a separate “herb” garden to grow these plants. They are attractive enough in their own right to deserve a spot in your garden.
Take Sage for example. Most of us only use a few sprigs of it in dressings at Thanksgiving and Christmas. But this is a hardy perennial plant with lovely blue flowers that will thrive in a sunny spot with very little encouragement. With a bit of water and food, it will self sow from year to year and a single plant will wind up giving you a good clump; more than you’ll ever need for that Christmas bird. So tuck a plant into the middle of a perennial garden in the full sun to light shade. It’s going to bloom in mid-summer with lovely blue blossoms and while some of the newer hybrids (they all taste the same) have bigger blossoms, the old-fashioned species plant has always been good enough for me. Take a handful of leaves and dry them by hanging them upside down in the kitchen. Or, even spread them out on an old window screen for a few days of sunshine. Don’t let them get damp or they’ll rot rather than dry. Once dry, crush them up and store in a dark glass container until you need them. Next summer, toss out any you haven’t used and start all over again with good fresh leaves. A pack of seeds can be spread on the garden this spring, can be started now indoors for a very early plant or you can even buy a plant this spring.
Another no-work herb is thyme. The trick with this plant is to put it into the full hot sun in a well-drained spot. I don’t care if that spot is gravel; just avoid a rich lovely garden soil or a clay soil that holds water. The trick is well-drained soil. Once this plant is established you’ll have it for a very long time with absolutely no work involved. It is covered in small bluish flowers in early summer and is a charming rock garden or ground cover plant. Now, some magazine articles say you can walk on this plant and while it will take a very small amount of foot traffic, it isn’t going to be a walkway type of plant. It really is a small woody shrub and once you crack the branches, they’ll die. It will take more foot traffic in the spring when the growth is flexible than later in the summer when the plant starts to harden off. Again, we don’t tend to use a lot of thyme so a few plants (they spread) is all you’ll need. Tuck them around paving stones or in a rock garden for the easiest and best results.
Parsley is a great plant for the lazy gardener. If you sow the seeds now, you’ll have a fine plant by May when you want to put it outdoors. Put it in the full sun in a decent soil and harvest as you need the sprigs. Cut the outer and lower leaves – leaving the top growth to produce more shoots and bigger plants. Parsley is a biennial and this means it will grow like stink the first summer in the garden when you can give it regular haircuts for your herb harvests. In a mild winter or protected garden, it will live over the winter. But, here’s the problem. The second year all this plant wants to do is set flowers and seed. It really doesn’t give you any decent leaves the second year. So in my garden, in the fall right before frost, the parsley would be dug up with as little root damage as possible. Then put into a big enough pot to handle those roots and put on a sunny windowsill in a cool room. I’d harvest the heck out of the plant because it will produce a goodly amount of fresh leaves for the next month or so. The light levels will go down, the plant will want to go dormant and it will stop producing new leaves. That’s the sign that it goes right to the compost bin. End of story. But it is an easy plant to grow and you can plant it right next to the back door (or in an easy to reach sunny spot) and harvest the heck out of it all summer. Plant it in the second row of a perennial garden so it can provide some top foliage to add some variation to the look of the garden but where you can harvest the lower leaves and the legginess of the plant won’t show.
The real message in this column isn’t that some herbs are easy to grow and others aren’t. The real message is that they’re all pretty easy to grow and you don’t need a specialized herb garden for them. The herbs that you only use a bit of, such as sage or thyme, can be planted anywhere in a sunny spot and will be a great perennial performer. Herbs that get cut up and look awkward can be planted in the second row of the perennial garden where that cut-up look is hidden by better looking plants.
Put your basil behind the daylilies, your parsley tucked amongst the coneflowers and don’t think just because we call it an “herb” that you can’t grow it anywhere you have a bit of space. That’s easy herb gardening.
In the fall I cut my parsley and freeze the stems. I use them throughout the year when making chicken stock. They work as well as the leaves and are easier to strain out. I learned that from reading and using Julia Child cookbooks.
I cut thyme to use anytime I need it right from the garden unless it is currently under snow. The leaves stay on all winter and I use it like dried thyme. It works great except the year a neighbor’s male dog used it to mark his perceived territory.
Jan
Oregano, dill, and fennel are also herbs that I like to plant in flower beds. I have watched generations of swallowtail butterflies emerge after dining on fennel in the summer. I grow it as much for them as for cooking! Oregano is a pretty border herb, but will muscle out thyme if planted next to it. Dill and fennel can be planted further back in the flower bed (second row).
Jenny Bs last blog post..I’ve Got The Cedar Fever Blues
Rosemary! Another easy peasy. Roots when you take a stem with a heel and stick it in the ground. Makes a little hedge. Great snipped over potatoes for roasting.
Oh, and don’t pick the ‘worms’ off your parsley! They turn into beautiful Black Swallowtail butterflies, and the parsley will grow back, even from a nub.
@Jenny B -
Thanks for that thought about combinations – those are the things beginning gardeners love to hear.
@Nell Jean -
And you’re right about those “worms” and it’s a message I’m delighted to post again… and again….
Ah Rosemary – one of my favorite plants to be sure – but not one that most Northeast gardeners find easy (and that was the title after all)
@prairiepetunia -
Male dog – herbs — ewwww.
Sage is great and very hardy. I just cut ours back every year and then we get great new growth and loads of flowers. One of the easiest.
We grow sage and rosemary in our garden and try to use it as often as possible. Sometimes its hard to find a use for them unless its the holidays.
I’m in the midwest and find growing rosemary pretty straightforward. It’s not hardy but I grow it pots and bring it indoors over the winter then back outside for spring. Nice to have some fresh herbs ready for use in the winter. The other herb I would recommend is tarragon. It’s very hardy and forms a nice bush and the taste is great.
Swallowtails in the Piedmont of North Carolina also like my fennel and rue. Both are pretty much denuded but the fennel is usually on its last leg anyway. The rue recovers quickly and and looks better than ever.
@SAD -
Glad you’re having fun with those herbs
@Karen’s Garden Tips -
I left those off because most folks don’t use ‘em but they’re easy to grow for sure
I currently have both parsley and basil in pots and they are doing well even through the winter. Both produced tons of leaves and are easy to grow and maintain as you suggest.
Rosemary— with proper drainage, that is critical! — about 50% sand or light gravel mixed into the potting mix, I’ve discovered my little rosemary start will happily grow into a small shrub! So I make it a habitat ‘traveler’ since south central Wisconsin is not rosemary’s mediterranean homeland– Keep rosemary potted up in a good sized pot, don’t overwater, and give her a sunny window for the winter, and she will reward you with blooms and lovely rich flavoring in spaghetti sauce, soups, and even blended into a herbal tea, all year long! I have kept several rosemary shrubs going for years! Their ‘permanent summer home’ is on the sunniest spot of my deck. Hooked on rosemary, especially when I heard it improves aging gardeners’ memories! Enjoy!
@Marcia Riquelme -
Some good tips there – thanks
What about chives! Easy as pie and great to throw in salad dressings, eggs, bruschetta, etc. I snip off the flowers after they start to fade and before they go to seed so I don’t have chives growing everywhere.
Also a big fan of rosemary, thyme and basil. Parsley too!
@Jennifer Elliott -
Ahhh, so many herbs so little thyme to grow them all. I knew when I wrote that post there’s be other points of view (and that’s a good thing)
Am I crazy…or did you only mention 4 herbs?
Anywho…I can’t live without my mint! I have 4 different kinds…some for drinks, some for fruit salad, some for stir fries and Indian food…yummmm
@Erin from Long Island -
You’re right – 3 in detail and 1 in passing. I either can’t count or left something out. Go figure – you’re the first person to note.
If thyme is not a really good idea to put between pavers and be used for heavy foot traffic, then what is? I need to pull up my pieces of slate and rake up as many of those tiny rocks that I had put there about 15-20 years ago get all the weeds out and pull up all the black fabric that I had put under all this a long time ago. This slate was the entry to the house. The fabric has stopped working for awhile now and the weeds are coming right through it AND the rocks. I am sick of that “look” now as well. I would rather have something alive between the pieces of slate now that isn’t a weed and can take the incoming and outgoing traffic. I was going to use thyme. But I see here that is not a great choice. What is? Eileen
@Eileen Wilson -
All manner of plants will take small or moderate foot traffic (like thyme). No plants will take heavy foot traffic (fact of gardening life).
Thank you. Thank you. I put one fennel plant in a pot with cherry tomatoes -my annual plant-one-new-herb attempt- had no idea it would grow six feet tall. Next year I’ll plant some in my cottage garden where I need height and frivolity. I plant rosemary in center of a large peat pot on my deck with mixed green seeds. Both thrive.