Things are going fairly well in the herb garden, though my rhubarb was decimated by a recent hail storm over the weekend which totally bums me out since I have a great new rhubarb crisp recipe I wanted to try. Ah well, maybe next year.
I've been nipping the herbs here and there and my dill seems to like that a lot. It's grown about 4 inches in the last week or so. I used some fresh basil last week for an omelete and the chives go well in almost everything. I also found a small packet of thyme and have started that in a pot. I haven't had much luck raising herbs from seed so if anyone has any advice I'd appreciate it. So, how are your herbs doing?
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Dill is the only one that gets going and then dies. I think that I read somewhere that Dill doesn't like containers, so that might be it.
My herbs are doing better since I managed to get rid of the nasty aphids. My Basiol is growing at breakneck speeds, so it must like it's new home.
Non-herb dilema though. I had planted carrots seeds and shortly after the first leaves popped up the all disapeared! I was so excited that they came up because I have never tried them before. Now there is nothing. Do lizzards eat seedlings?? That is the only critter that I have, yet they haven't gone after anything else.
Sorry about your rhubarb, Mark - I can't believe you got HAIL! But it sounds like you're enjoying your herb garden, in spite of that setback.
I started a new kitchen herb garden with odds and ends of plants that were strewn around the vegetable garden - it's nicer to have them in one place! Basil, dill, thyme, oregano, pineapple mint, chives, Egyptian onions, yarrow, comfrey, and sorrel are doing well - the lemon balm is pouting, as is the purple basil.
Diane: I have heard of some thyme being used as a ground cover. If I had my druthers I'd replace my entire lawn with that. I also have a slope that needs some attention.
To respond to one of your comments - I've planted creeping thyme in the past, partly because it does do a nice job of ground cover and partly because it is tasty. Once it establishes itself it can take a severe amount of abuse from heavy cutting (big recipes! gifts!) to being dug under (a rabbit dug herself a little bunny birthing spot underneath it...) and word is it can even be mowed. I would LOVE a "lawn" of creeping thyme, it smells fantastic.
Years ago I bought a nicely established small peat pot of creeping thyme and planted it on a south-facing wall that got tons of sun. It also was alongside the house so it retained heat from the foundation, and was fairly sheltered from bad weather. That baby wintered over like no one's business, growing bigger and more substantial every year for the 3 years I tended to it. (Read: left it alone except to harvest leaves) I'm guessing the people who own the house now have left it to its devices, and if I see them I'll ask.