Growing Herbs

sounds good, we should try growing it too

its been too wet here to grow anything but weeds!

Sounds good. I've got mint & oregano growing. I planted the mint in the yard.It will smell great when it spreads more and the grass gets cut.

I always planted it in a barrel

<You know of course that mint will take over your life.........>  As will lemon balm (which makes a really great soothing tea, by the way). But really, isn't that the point?  Less grass to mow.

I didn't plant this year  but I love fresh basil

SO where do you live LOL

Just kidding

LOL  Southern California and it grows all year long

Herbs are a wonderful way to add flavor to most foods.  I seldom use additional salt to most of my cooking through the use of herbs and other seasonings.

Bay tree...use in spaghetti and other Italian-inspired dishes. (This one is something of a problem since I can get a successful 'start' and the shrub will live about four years before dying. I've killed three so far. Current 'tree' is about 8 inches tall but seems to be thriving all the same. At the moment, anyway.)

Oregano....anything Italian; rice pilaf...Mine is flowering at the moment and boy are the honeybees happy! It grows voraciously in my area, given plenty of water.

Parsley...curly type. Currently flowering and setting seed, I'm not using it for much this year as I will be saving the seed for future plantings (it's a biennial; the first year has the best flavor--the second year it will flower and seed). Use it for tabouli and salads.

Lemon Balm....makes a soothing tea; insect (mosquito) repellant; also makes a wonderful bath herb.

Rosemary....a hair rinse (very strong tea, good for brunettes); in any Greek-inspired dish involving beef, chicken or lamb; in rice pilaf.

Lettuce-leaf basil (very large leaves)...spaghetti sauce, pesto, salads, and HEAVENLY in roast beef sandwiches.

Sorrel...lemony, citrusy green; excellent when leaves are very small in salads; slightly larger leaves (must be cooked due to oxalic acid content) do very well in soups, particularly chicken.

Cilantro....SALSA! also tabouli and any chicken dish involving rice.

Multiplying onions...this is my first year to plant these; I don't have much luck with vegetables other than tomatoes but we shall see. Mostly I was attrated to the idea of planting a perennial onion--plant once and harvest 'forever', given appropriate maintenance.

I also have a peach tree (volunteered from the compost heap and I should have a bushel at least this year if the squirrels don't get to them first); a 'Jonathan' apple tree (did I mention that I have a really abundant population of really obese squirrels?); two pecan trees (see previous comments about squirrels) and a pear tree (does anyone know how to catch squirrels?)

Also thinking about how to harvest squirrels since I seem to have a bumper crop of those as well..... 

How do you collect the seeds?  I thought when they went to flower they were no good so I keep cutting back so it will not go to flower.

What are multiplying onions?

Rosemary is another good one.  I love grilled lemon rosemary chicken but have not made it in a long time.

Collecting seeds is easy...when the flowers begin to die off, it's getting ready to drop seed. Put a small paper bag over the flowers and tape the bottom closed tightly around the stem. Use a coat hanger (hook end) to pull the stem over so gravity will make the seeds drop down into the bag and shake the bag every day or so. When you hear a rattling inside the bag, you've got seeds. Using a funnel, shake seeds into a sterilized pill bottle with a silica gel packet (as from a box of new shoes) and store in a cool place until planting time next year.

Multiplying onions:  Allium cepa proliferum ('walking onion', egyptian onion, topset onion). "Walking onions are prolific and easy to grow. Instead of flowering they produce small bulb on top of their stalks. When they mature, these stalks fall over, planting new bulbs for the following year. Thus the plants 'walk' around the garden. The sprouting bulbs in spring make fine scallions and are produced in abundance. The topsets can be eaten, but are difficult to peel because they tend to be small. However, when still immature the bulbils can be used without peeling. Walking onions are hardy in Zones 4-10, and evergreen in many climates. Walking onions are one of the earliest and latest sources of edible greens in cold-climate gardens. This species is often so successful in gardens that people complain of having too much, so don't hold back on harvesting." Perennial Vegetables:  From Artichoke to 'Zuiki' Taro, a Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious, Easy-To-Grow Edibles, by Eric Toensmeier; (p. 83) ISBN-13: 978-1-931498-40-I, copyright Eric Toensmeier, 2007.

I also have a clump of garlic that survived ten years of being mowed before I finally re-discovered the clump and marked it. Garlic really does grow best if it is planted in the fall--this one was planted in the spring way back when and I've only ever harvested from it for garlic greens. Garlic is TOUGH.

Also planting horseradish again this year. We shall see....it's not supposed to require a lot of care but I didn't have a lot of success with it the last time I tried. Once it gets started, though, it is also a perennial. 

Thank you Linda  this is alot of great info.

Well, I didn't look hard enough through the index of Perennial Vegetables. Turns out 'multiplier onions' (p. 80 of Perennial Vegetables) are actually Allium cepa aggregatum...or shallots. These are also a perennial vegetable, but a different type. The biggest difference between 'multiplier' and 'walking' seems to be the way the plant propagates itself... but hey, good news. One of the most sought-after gourmet ingredients (shallots) are also a perennial and hardy to Zone 5. So....planting your own will provide a wonderful source of <cheap> gourmet onions.

I apologize for the error. I'll have more coffee now, in the hopes that more brain cells will wake up and start communicating.

I would also suggest cutting back on artificial sweeteners...when you do, your tastebuds will re-adjust and you will be surprised how much sweeter fruit tastes--which is so much healthier than anything that includes artificial sweetener can possibly be.

I don't have any type of garden ; (        I have thought about getting something that would grow inside, but afraid my cat would dig it up.

I wonder if they would grow out on the front porch, there is no shade there at all and we have the bird feeders and the hummingbird feeders out there.

we have some in containers right on the patio and they do great.  I bet on the porch it would be fine.

I am thinking of growing herbs my self and when I do. I would always dry them and use them. I can always replace them when I know I have them growing around me.

thanks for sharing

My 2 fav herbs are rosemary..great for chicken & fish, and cilantro..use in anything mexican

We have cut back on sugars, salts, and shortning.  We now use Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

I love parsley.  I put it on my chicken.

I use all kinds of herbs and seasonings when I cook.  Last night when I did pork chops, I put them in a glass dish with some smart balance butter that was already melted.  Then I sprinkled with Mrs. Dash salt, some onion and garlic powder and then dusted them with flour.  Sprayed the whole thing with Olive Oil Pam until all the powder/flour was wet.  Put in the oven and baked it for 30  minutes.  The tops were crunchy, just like they'd been fried with no cholesterol!

that sounds good Paula, I think I will try that tomorrow for hubby for Fathers day

thanks for the info--great conversation going on here.  I have tried to plant herbs from seeds a few times and it has never worked.  I did have basil once--loved it in spanish rice.

Basil : Great in Italian as well as Asian cooking, and it's my mom's secret ingredient in her dumplings for "Chicken and dumplings."

Greek Oregano : when wintered properly will turn into a true perennial, but if not it winds up being only an annual. Great in Italian and Mexican cooking.

Dill: We use it in all sorts of fish dishes as well as pickeling.

Sage: The obvious choice for poultry dishes as well making an amazing browned butter sauce for pastas like stuffed shells or homemade raviollis.

Rosemary: Potatoes and Poultry are natural friends..as well a pork and some shellfish.

Lemon Balm...has suddenly appeared in my garden this year. I don't know where it came from, I didn't plant it, maybe some neighbor might have and the seeds wound up in my yard! I'm angry because it naturalizes so quickly that it takes over!

I also happen to have tons of wild onion in my yard. It was really kinda nice being able to cut some of the tops and freeze them like chives as well as dig up the ever popular baby bulbs for all sorts of dishes...what a treat!

Thyme and I don't seem to get a long. I tend to kill it. Tarragon simply doesn't grow well in my climate and I get agravated that cilantro is so finiky and short lived...it tends to go to seed rather quickly so I try to harvest it as soon as possible then do a second planting in the late summer/early fall.

I grow parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, basil, dill, chives, oregano and lemon balm.  I might have forgotten some, but we grow alot of veggies, fruits and herbs.  I also grow my own garlic every fall.

I like to use lemon juice to flavor a lot of stuff. I like to add a dash of it to my greenbeans when heating them. My mom used to do it when I was a child. HH

I don't grow herbs, but have used the dried ones a lot - tarragon is GREAT in tuna salad.

oops... pif

Wow. That is nice.  How about cilantro, mint and dill?