The Edible Herb Garden. Rosalind Creasy
so each container on the system can have the exact amount of water it needs. My drip system is connected to an automatic timer, so it's scheduled to water every night for five minutes from spring through fall.
Overwintering Herbs Indoors
As you can see, growing plants outside in containers has its challenges, and the problems are exacerbated when you bring the plants inside for the winter. In essence, you change a plant's environment from a bright, sunny spot with fairly high humidity and a normal ecosystem and relocate it to a dim area with low humidity and no natural predators. It can be done, and done well, but it requires care, thought, the right plants, and a suitable sunny spot in the house. As a rule, herbs that tolerate shade are the most successful. If you plan to cook with many of the herbs, you will need more plants than usual, as herbs grown indoors over the winter grow more slowly than those outside.
It's late spring in my garden and time to pot up young tarragon, lavender, and scented geraniums before the weather gets too hot and they need water twice a day. A harvest of curly parsley, to make a lovely cream soup, oregano for drying, and the purple flowers of the Mexican sage (Salvia leucantha) for a table bouquet, complete the scene.
Containers can become the focal point of a garden. Here an old wooden bucket filled with golden sage and a nail barrel with ornamentals and creeping rosemary draw the eye. In the background the flower spikes of anise hyssop attract bees, and in the foreground a winter savory peeks out from behind a species yellow marigold.
1. Select a place in the house that gets at least six hours of direct sun a day. Temperatures in the sixty-to seventy-degree range and areas away from cold drafts are best. If a sunny window is not available, then set up an area with fluorescent lights. Locate fixtures six inches above the plants, and run them for sixteen hours a day.
2. Choose herbs that are fairly adaptable to indoor conditions, such as mint, parsley, winter savory, lemon balm, and scented geraniums. Chives grow fairly well indoors but tend to go dormant for part of the winter. If you have an attached greenhouse or bright sunroom, you might try the sun-loving bay, oregano, rosemary, sweet marjoram, and thyme as well.
3. For the best success, choose your plants at the beginning of the growing season and plant them in containers from the outset instead of uprooting them in the fall. Containers at least eight inches across filled with commercial potting soil do best. These containers can be sunk in garden soil over the summer to keep watering to a minimum.
4. A few weeks before your first expected frost, prune back plants; check for aphids, scale, whiteflies, and mites; and treat if infested.
5. Place plants in a shady spot for a few weeks to acclimatize them to low light levels.
6. Just before bringing plants in, wash remaining foliage well and spray with a prophylactic dose of insecticidal soap.
7. Once they're inside, isolate outdoor plants from your houseplants until you have determined that neither is contaminated.
8. Water most overwintering plants only when the soil surface starts to dry out.
9. Wash down foliage occasionally to remove dust that can harbor spider mites.
10. Turn containers every week or so, so all sides receive equal light.
11. Fertilize monthly with half-strength fertilizer.
12. Maintain good air circulation and keep plants from touching, to prevent diseases and pests.
13. If your house is very dry, raise the humidity around your plants by filling a shallow tray with pebbles and placing it under your plants. Pour a half inch of water into the tray every few days. Keep containers from sitting in the water, to avoid root rot.
14. Watch for pests; if they appear, immediately isolate any infested plants to prevent the problem from spreading, and treat them with insecticidal soap or send them to the compost pile.
Two large 'Tuscan Blue' rosemary trees and two sages, the purple 'Purpurascens' and a gray-leafed 'Extrakta,' in blue containers, adorn my front steps.
Oregano and Roman chamomile work well in the mixed border that lines my front walk. On my way into the house I can harvest a few sprigs of oregano for my supper.
encyclopedia of culinary herbs
The following is a detailed list of the most common culinary herbs. The basic cultural information about how to prepare the soil, planting techniques, seed starting, irrigation, mulching, fertilizing, pruning, and pest and disease control is covered in Appendixes A and B.
For each entry the common name of the herb is given as the title, followed by the herb's Latin name. The first word in a Latin name is the plant's genus, namely, a small group of plants that are closely related and similar to each other. The second name is the species. These are plants that are so closely related they are able to interbreed. When more than one species is being described in the entry they are designated as spp. It is critical to use the Latin name of unfamiliar edible plants as the common names of plants change from region to region and may be used to describe plants that are not edible, even ones that are toxic.
The herbs I have chosen to cover here are my favorites. Many of the herb entries include named cultivated varieties that are designated by single quotes. These select varieties (also known as cultivars) are most often available only from specialty herb nurseries. I have chosen them for their unusual foliage or flavor variations and I find them worth seeking out.
I have also included a number of exotic herbs. Some have there own unique flavors, others have tastes similar to familiar herbs and can be used as substitutes for the more common herbs in the warmest summer areas. To purchase the more unusual varieties you need to seek out specialty herb growers.
ANGELICA
Angelica archangelica
ANGELICA IS A LARGE-LEAFED herb that grows up to six feet and more. In humid climates it can be a dramatic backdrop to a flower border. Both the aromatic leaves and the stems impart a slight anise flavor and are used in numerous savory dishes.
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