Herbs on the Move

I like to use fresh herbs and used to plant a lot of them—not just variety but quantity. I’d plant Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley (curly and flat leafed) Cilantro, Basil, Sage, Tarragon, Dill, Chamomile, Mint, Lovage, Lavender, Chives, Fennel, Hyssop, and Bergamot.

Sometimes, I’d plant them in with the veggies, sometimes in their own spot close to my kitchen door, and one year, I tried planting them a strawberry pot at the suggestion of one of our local nurseries.

They did great in with the veggies, but I sort of forgot about them because they weren’t in my daily path. And, when they were in the plot close to the kitchen, the neighborhood cats seemed to use it as their sandbox. I could never keep the strawberry pot watered thoroughly enough, and the herbs died within weeks. Sigh.

I decided to plant the chives, hyssop, bergamot, and mint in with the flowers in the fragrant garden. It’s sunny and they like it there. I may need to move the chives again, however, because Monty thinks it’s his personal duty to keep them “watered.”

And, I’m taking a cue from my aunt on the rest of the herbs. Last year when I was in Norway, she had a big glazed pot of just a few herbs – thyme, parsley, and rosemary in a sunny spot on the patio. She said she’d bring the pot in the cellar for the winter and everything did fine. So, this spring, I found a big glazed pot and planted just a few herbs – the ones I really use frequently – and stuck them in. My plan is to take the glazed pot inside in the fall and keep the herbs going through the winter. I had luck wintering over my scented geraniums in glazed pots last year, so I’m hopeful about the herbs. I'll keep you posted.

What’s working in your herb garden?

Plants Have Families, Too

People frequently talk about family resemblance—eye color, hair color, height, shape, etc. It’s no different in my own family. My second-cousin, Winnie, is the spitting image of my grandmother. My father and his cousin Håkon could be twins. My nephew looks very much like my father did when he was a child. We even have similar mannerisms. Last summer, at a little league game, my sister said about my nephew, “Look at that, he’s standing just like everyone else in our family.” I hadn’t thought about it before, but she was right. He was standing exactly the way my father and grandmother stood.

Plants have families, too, and therefore family resemblances and characteristics. I’d known for a long time, for example, that almost all plants with square stems and fragrant leaves are from the mint family. Until I took a botany class last summer, however, I did not know that carrots are a member of the parsley family or that potatoes and tomatoes are in the same family.

Who cares, right?! Well. Knowing a plant’s family can help you figure out growth habits and sun preferences. And, if you have a vegetable garden, knowing that potatoes and tomatoes are in the same family (they’re both nightshades, incidentally) is imperative for proper crop rotation. Rotating crops (a three-year cycle is ideal) ensures the soil gets replenished and any pests lingering in the soil won’t find a host.

Both tomatoes and potatoes are heavy feeders and are prone to fungal diseases and pests. If you didn't know about the "family resemblance," you might think you were rotating properly and inadvertently deplete the soil further and potentially encourage the fungal disease and pests common to this plant family.

I took the class because I wanted to get better at plant identification. I’m better now but wouldn’t consider myself an expert and frequently refer to the text from the class to help me figure things out. If you’re interested in becoming better at plant identification and/or understanding the characteristics of particular plant families, I recommend the text, “Botany in a Day—The Patterns Method of Plant Identification” by Thomas J Elpel.