plans for next year

For those of you dreaming about next year's herb garden...what are some of your plans? Will you be trying new varieties? Adding raised beds? Planting a fragrance herb garden? Learning to cook with culinary herbs?

I'm putting in a medicinal herb garden and am sowing the plants from seed this Winter ... will have to post later, from home, to give specific plant names.

I lied -- Here is a partial list of seeds that I have, some of which* I'm already growing elsewher on the property:

Astragulus
Holy Basil
Burdock
Calendula
German Chamomile*
Echinacea purpurea*
Elecampane
Evening primrose*
Flax
Lemon Balm*
Marshmallow
Motherwort
Nettles
Cayenne pepper
Sage
Valerian
Wood Betony
Yarrow*
Stevia
Licorice


This message was edited Nov 7, 2007 12:24 PM

One of the best catalogs out there is from Richter's. They do a great job of history, uses and how to plant & care for. This hard copy catalog would be a great resource for spring planning.

http://www.richters.com/

Yesss! I am planning big for next year. My herb garden will be a "sensation" theme. I'm scourging for the unusual....plants that have visual impact, heavenly fgragrance, textures and vibrant color, and of course, taste.

Some of these include:
Angelica
Fenugreek
Lovage
Oswego tea
Borage
Garlic chives
Evening Primrose
Sorrel
globe thistle
Indian Pink
Pussytoes
Poppies
Marjoram
Salad burnet
Salvias
French Tarragon
Italian basils
Lemon basil (again-loved this plant!!)
various thymes (orange spice & other scented and silver types)
Greek oregano
Italian Parsley
Scented geraniums
Holy mole peppers (again)
More mints (chocolate, peppermint, pineapple mint)
Nasturtiums (again)
Cinquefoil
Sunflowers
Pot marigolds
Meadowsweet
Lamb's ears
Lady's mantle

I already have 3 triangular beds to fill up. I won't expand, unless there is runover. Ambitious plans for limited space. We will see.

Foxnfirefly, I hope you'll go to the Spring Swap next year (Mid-Atlantic Forum) - we could coordinate several of the plants in our lists.

Sure, I will try to make the swap. I haven't found much time to watch the Mid-Atlantic threads, lately. I have some of my mainstays to lift and divide in the Spring, so I expect I can swap a couple of things.

Wrightie and Fox, excellent! Love to see so many herbs being added. I'm already growing everything on your lists except for the holy mole peppers! I'll have to look for those. I will warn you both with evening primrose - that is like a deer magnet. It's the very first thing the deer look for when they get in my garden (never mind the fences, the sprays, the hair strewn about, the soap and any other deterrent you can imagine). Well, that and the red clover. And roses. And...

lol - I already have evening primrose, too, but fortunately we don't have deer. I live inside the DC beltway in a fairly built up neighborhood. They are seen more along the perimeter of my 'hood but don't venture to our house. Groundhogs ... well, that's a different story.

We've only been in this house for four years; the yard is tiny, so I cannot grow everything that I'd like. Also, my front yard gets all the sun so I'm always fighting the urge to let things get too cottagey and of control out front ... need to maintain a certain level of formality there, blah blah blah... :~)

My herb garden was new last spring and I think I've made a lot of progress, but still have a long way to go. And I haven't done a lot of cooking with the herbs yet. I have used some of the mint and basil in spaghetti sauce, but that's about it. My oregano was still small. I need to cut some sage for turkey stuffing. And I have a ton of fennel seed and want to make some Italian sausage. I have my DFIL's recipe.

I planted 'Music' garlic this fall (not really an herb, but it fits in). I had Florence fennel this year, but need to add bronze fennel. More mints!! I have chocolate, lemon, ginger, lavender, pineapple & curly. And more thymes. I don't have any culinary thyme...need to add some. And I absolutely love creeping thymes. I have orange, silver and lemon in the herb garden. Elsewhere in the garden I have Elfin, golden, mother-of-thyme, Minus, woolly, Goldsteam and mongolian. I'd like to root some and move to the herb garden for ground cover. And I want new ones (never enough creeping thymes LOL).

I want to try rosemary again in a protected spot and see if I can overwinter it. I had it before and it made it thru the winter but a late frost did it in.

DH drinks a lot of tea, so I'd like to make some teas for him. I planted some chamomile this year. Never did figure out if it was German or Roman. It was just labelled chamomile. and I didn't make any tea. I should also try flavoring some regular tea with some of the mints. Also want to try some stevia for sweetening. he is borderline diabetic.

Also some more culinary herbs. Winter savory, marjoram, tarragon. there are so many.

~ jan

Herbalbetty--we're in city limits but over a year ago, a neighbor reported seeing deer on our block, so I guess I'll be seeing deer next year. Thanks for the warning, LOL. I planted a bunch of tulips a week ago, so I may have to keep vigile over the beds in the spring to catch those hooved bandits with antlers. If you try Holy Mole peppers, I advise you to allow them plenty of room and put a tomato cage over your seedlings because they get HUGE and branch out and need support--it's a tree actually, and the peppers are about 6-8 inches long!! That's why it's called "Holy Mole!" But they are mildly zingy hot and are excellent in chil sauces. We just made a pot of chili with them this week and the flavor was enhanced!!

"Music" garlic?? Grampapa, are you using that in your Italian sausage recipe? I haven't tried that and wonder how it tastes? My in-laws used to get kielbasa from someone in PA that used some really good garlic, but I don't know what kind. It sounds like you have more thymes than anything!! They're my favorite herb and I have always wanted to make a mosaic carpet of various thymes one day. I only have 3 kinds currently and no open flat space for a carpet show yet.

I didn't really have an herb garden last year, but I grew 6 types of basil, rosemary, lemon balm, oregano and marjoram tucked around the veggie garden. The basils attracted all kinds of polinators. Also, I am new to gardening in the desert, so it was very exciting to find plants that really LIKE our heat and sand! (and if you count garlic as an herb, then I also had nearly two dozen garlic bulbs) ... so, for next year, I'm going to actually devote a whole 4 x 8 raised bed to herbs in addition to the ones I tuck around the veggies... in the ground are a little over 100 cloves of garlic - mostly hard necks and spicey types (siberian, korean red, georgia crystal, bogatyr, kettle riber and polish hardneck). I plan to plant more purple basils - they weren't particularly fancy in taste, but they were very pretty in the garden and the ones I let go to flower made the bees happy, happy. Lemon balm will move to a drier, sunnier area (tomato plant took over and shaded them out). Oregano grew like crazy and continues dispite freezing nights. Going to try using it as a ground cover around one of my fruit trees. Going to increase the number of sweet basil so that I can freeze enough to last through the winter.

Re: garlic - I like the spicey ones for things that get well cooked - when they get cooked, they loose the spiciness but retain the rich garlic flavor. Mostly the spicey ones are "hard neck" varieties. At least where I am, it is very hard to find garlic like this at the store.

Kmom ~ sounds like your gardens were successful and your climate is wonderful for what you choose to grow.

I am curious ~ had a friend say not to add a variety of garlics as the cross pollination will contaminate a good strain. Just wondering, not telling ~ anyone?

I don't know enough about growing different garlic bulbs together. Let's hear from the garlic experts!

I was planning to grow garlic chives next year --I did before and it was a beautiful tall sturdy chives with a rather potent garlic taste--with PUNCH!! It has lovely white globe flowers that pollinators like. But I am really interested in a good garlic like kmom described--that cooks well with a rich garlic flavor. Hmm......

Garlic are sterile and are essentially cloned from their cloves; on hardnecks you cut the scapes before they open so the energy goes into the bulbs - but the scapes aren't flowers - they really contail tiny (grain sized) bulbs.

I'm a little jealous about all the wonderfull herbs being grown in ( what I consider to be ) warm, wet climates! High and Dry, up here....still doing well with lavender, thyme, sages, lemon balm. I'd like to study up on the native New Mexico herbs more next year. Oh, yeah. I get Tons of garlic chives, too.

I'm in the desert in Nevada - it's hot, but certainly not "warm and wet" Most herbs I've tried seem to do ok here if you water... sand (pure sand) 10 ft down, so most things are grown in amended raised beds. Pretty much all herbs grow here, although they do need supplemental water. Everything sufferes a bit when the temps get to 108*F - 110*F, but for the most part, the herbs do well. Sometimes the ones being grown as ornamentals (not for eating) get watered with bath water. I must say I've become a basil nut as it loves it here - lovely leaf colors and shapes, pretty, delicate flowers in pink and white, cool looking seed pods to dry and use in potpori (mine cross breed so I don't use them for seed, although it might be fun to try and grow some out). Garlic seems to do well here - maturing before the really hot dog days of July & August. Oregano did well with some afternoon shade; ditto sweet marjoram.

I also want to answer the question about whether garlic is an herb or not. Yes, it is an herb because of its many uses--it is used as a flavoring ingredient, used in some medicinal remedies and also as an insect/animal repellent. If a plant has an industrial use, it is generally considered an herb.

Garlic scapes are delicious. but, you have to pick them while they are young and still coiled. Once they straighten out, they become woody and bitter. So, there is a short time to pick them and enjoy them. I make garlic scape pesto and my family likes it better than "regular" basil pesto. I throw the scapes into the blender, while the blades are running, add olive oil to make a paste. Throw in a handful of toasted pine nuts and then a bit of freshly grated parm cheese. Delicious and it keeps a very long time in the fridge.

Oooh, garlic scape pesto - sounds wonderful! With 100 cloves in the ground, perhaps I shall try this! Last year we chopped them up and added them to stir fry and they were totally yummy!

Garlic scape pesto?? Thanks, Herbalbetty. Just gave us one more use for garlic, and your recipe sounds wonderful!!

My plans for next year include:

transplanting my costmary and taking better care of it. I just love this stuff.
I would love to be successful with stevia. and really use it.
I lost all my scented geraniums a few years back , hope to build up my selection again. I consider it therapy to walk through my flower garden and pinch off something pleasant .

Foxnfirefly, What are Holy mole peppers ?

LOL just came across this thread and the 'dreaming of next year' comment really caught my eye (and imagination)! The weather turned a bit frosty here and I immediately thought of the seed catalogs and started ordering away!

Need to fill out my mixed parsley border in my cottage-y butterfly garden; more dill and fennel for the swallowtails, too. Then a v. nice DGer sent me lots of gomphrena seed to try out and echinaceas, too. Then I found that Park's seed site and the 35% off sale so ordered several basils, chervil, coriander, and curry plant seeds for the new window boxes by the kitchen door steps. Then I found some rare salvia seeds for the Hummingbirds listed on E-bay so I put in some bids! And on and on. Oh, the dreams we have!

I have so many new herb seeds to try out for wintersowing I can hardly wait until the end of January when I get started with that!

And thanks all of you 'herbalists' for energizing my interest in herbs...I had forgotten how satisfying it is to have so fragrant and delicious greens within reach of my back door! Great thread, herbal betty!

KathyJo,
Here's what Holy Mole peppers are:

http://www.territorial-seed.com/stores/1/Holy_Mol_233_P143082C592.cfm

It is a rather large pepper tree plant that got about 5-1/2 ft. high and bore the large green peppers you see in the picture. The pepers are "hot" and have an excellent flavor.

Tabasco,
You are into butterflies and hummingbirds BIGTIME!! I can't wait to see your "setup" next year.