Fragil Herbs

Cilantro FTW

Cilantro and parsley both perform better when direct seeded in the soil--the resulting plants are less leggy and better rooted. I've had the rain beat down transplants before--the plants are too large for their relatively restricted root systems.

I grow "Mammoth" variety dill...it is nearly 5' tall when mature. It will get pushed around by wind and rain, but simply bend to the side and keep on growing. Again, direct seeded in the ground is best. It sets seed prolifically, so you'll never need to buy another seed packet again and will have plenty of dill fronds and seeds to share.

Consider planting multiple kinds of basil (sweet and thai), and savory (though you'll probably have to mail order the seeds). Sage is a must, but in a well-drained pot, not in the ground. It hates wet feet.

I don't use a lot of sage, but until it was actually dug up and removed when something else was planted in that area, it lived for about 3 years. It did better than mint I've been trying to grow for years. Takes over everyone's yards but mine. The sage, though, endured all manner of issues.

My dill and cilantro has always been short lived. Just doesn't last and doesn't come back. My curly leaf parsley is coming back and looks better than it did all last summer. All of my thyme is hanging in there as is much of the oregano. Chives are coming back, also.

Agree on planting Thai basil. I love it and use it quite often in addition to the regular and I also enjoyed my purple basil last year. It actually did better than any of the basil varieties I had.

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I grow "Mammoth" variety dill

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hungryone

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A dill story. We grow dill and don't get to eat much of it because it is the favored plant for the Blue Swallowtail butterfly.

I hate what the caterpillar does to the dill plant, but I love the butterfly. Don't know about where you live, but in my garden they always find the dill plants, lay their eggs on them and within a week or two eat everything on the plant.

Looks like I need to find your variety so there will be some dill weed for me and the butterflies on those 5 foot tall plants.

We decided several years back, that pots are the way for us to do herbs. Just works better for us, since for the most part they like sun and hate wet feet.

my wife eats a ton of basil on tomatoes and mozzarella.

Is the Thai basil good in that application or to make a pesto sauce...because those 2 usages probably account for 90% of our basil usage.

No, the Thai basil is for Asian food...it has a sharper/spicier flavor than the Italian varieties (usually labeled as sweet or Genoese/Genovese basil, or sometimes you'll see the lettuce leaf variety). The sweet basil is what you want for pesto.

RE: butterflies & dill--I sow way more than I need, so the caterpillars get their fair share and I get mine. I do love those blue swallowtails.

If you're struggling w/cilantro and parsley, it helps to know that they're cool season annuals in LA. You should sow their seeds starting in September and periodically all winter if you want to harvest continually...both cilantro and parsley plants will bolt (grow tall, lanky & begin to form flowers) as soon as the weather warms up. Once the flowers form, the leaves will change shape and flavor & usually become too bitter to eat. Still, let 'em set seed, as bees need flowers and you can harvest the resulting seeds to plant when the weather gets cooler.

Some varieties of cilantro are slower to bolt than others (more hot weather adapted). Ditto for parsley. It's always sad to see those parsley and cilantro transplants in garden centers & stores right now--they're NOT going to give you any harvest. They're already too large to settle into the soil, and they're gonna start flowering as soon as it gets above 80 degrees.

Like I posted in the recent thread on gardening, the general advice & plant selections for the South just don't apply for south LA. Lots of garden failures aren't due to your soil or water, they're due to a mismatch between plants & seasonality. Lettuce and green peas are winter crops here...ditto for strawberries and spinach.

Direct seed whenever possible. If you have big marauding yard dogs who like to lie in the flowerbeds, obvi you won't have much luck. If you're gardening in containers, you should have no problems placing the seeds in the soil without using starter pots. The less disturbed the rootlets are, the stronger the plant will be.

Which type of thyme do you use? I had a lot of lemon thyme that's nice, but I don't use it that often. I have French and English, as well, I believe, but I want to plant more of what I would use most often. I also had the mother-in-law (think that's the name) creeping thyme. Nice, but not all that strong. Very pretty in a pot.

I got got by thy grammaticaltician authoritatives of the intraworldwidewebz.