How are your herbs doing?

We are in pretty good shape with our springtime herbs.

The rosemary is a five or six year old plant in a bed in the front yard. I thought I had a better photo, but this one gives an indication how big the plant has grown. You will always have lots of fresh rosemary if you put one of these in a flower bed in your yard. Plus I like the smell and simple beauty of the plant.



We carried our oregano through the winter in an Earth Pot planter then harvested it a couple of weeks back. It is drying nicely and will be crumbled and stored in an empty spice jar in another week or so. I like dried oregano better than fresh and this will provide plenty for this year. The wife moved what was left after her trimming from the earth pot to a sunny spot in a bed beside the patio and it will prosper there over the summer. Sometime in late summer, she will take it back to the Earth Pot and carry it over the winter to start all over again next spring.



Another view - not quite dry enough to crumble and store away.



The transferred oregano plants don't look like much at the moment, but it rained today and they will start growing again over the next few days. In a week or two you will never know they were moved to the flower bed. If I decide to use fresh oregano, they will be a few feet out the back door for the entire summer.

Here is the Earth Pot about a week after setting out this spring's herbs.




The Flat Leaf Parsley in the lower right hand corner of the photo above had bolted from a couple of absolutely beautiful plants a month ago to stems that were 18-20 inches high and blooms that would have quickly gone to seed. I whacked them down severely three weeks back and we have been using the leaves quite a bit. This plant may recover, or it may not. Honestly, it has gone its limit and probably should be pulled up and replanted. Parsley doesn't do very well here when it gets hot. However, the wife has sowed some seed in a very shady spot under the hydrangias - a place shady and cool enough to stand our hot weather. It has worked well in past years and will be a productive spot again this year as long as we remember to water it every day or two through the hottest part of the summer.



The varigated leaf plant behind that large snail trying to eat the parsley is a sage plant. Sage likes it hot, so it will be big/too big in no time at all. It will come in handy this Thanksgiving and maybe in a week or two as a featured seasoning in a dish I'll photograph, should I decide to cook it.



The plant with the small leaves in the lower half of the photo above is thyme. The plant above it is chives. The thyme has more than doubled in size in two weeks. We will start harvesting it to dry soon and then keep it trimmed to a sensible size throughout the summer. The chives will not last forever, but the wife likes them with sour cream on her baked potatoes. I'm more of a butter and pepper only potato guy.



Anyone can grow nice basil. These leaves are nice as a chiffonade - picked fresh, layered leaves rolled tightly and cut in 1/16 to 1/8 inch strips, but I know you guys all know what a chiffonade is.



I like to pinch off a bit of Basil or Rosemary so that I can enjoy the fragrance and taste when I pass by them while working in the yard.

Anybody else do this? How are your herbs doing?