Cynthia Meredith has been gardening with herbs, reading about herbs, and discussing herb gardening in Texas for more than 20 years. She has owned The Herb Cottage ( www.theherbcottage.com ) for over 10 years, selling herb plants to people all over our state.

As fall continues with more rain and still greatly fluctuating temperatures, some of the best herbs are really coming into their own. Even though we've had quite a few warm days in between some picture-perfect fall days of cool, dry, sunny weather, the cool season annuals are thriving.

Cool season annuals are herb or flower crops that do not succeed in our hot, humid summer weather. These varieties need the lower temperatures of our fall, winter and early spring to be at their best. The most commonly grown herbs of the cool season annuals are cilantro, dill, arugula and chervil along with the edible flowers of calendula, violets and nasturtiums. If you're going to grow edible flowers, as with the herbs, be sure they haven't been treated with chemical pesticides or fungicides.

Photo courtesy of  HERBALPEDIA™

Photo courtesy of www.ehow.com

Cilantro likes a sunny spot to grow in. Water needs are average. The one issue with cilantro in our southern Texas area is that a few warm days during winter will cause the plant to bolt, or to send up a flower stalk. That signals the end of the regular growth of the plant. The leaves turn from the flat, parsley-like leaves to sort of a ferny appearance. 

Photo courtesy of www.fragrantfields.com
The cilantro plant is starting to bolt - notice the ferny leaves forming.

Umbrels of small white flowers appear at the top of the flower stalk. While the plant is in bloom, however, it is still usable. The ferny leaves can be used just as you would the flat leaves, and the flowers can also be eaten. The leaves and flowers also make a nice filler in a cut flower arrangement.

Photo courtesy of  HERBALPEDIA™  

If you let the plant flower and go to seed, the ripe seeds are known as the spice coriander.These are useful in baking and in Indian and Middle Eastern dishes. Invariably some seeds will fall from your plant and there you'll have more cilantro when the soil and moisture conditions are right for the seed to germinate. Or you can collect the seed to save and share with other gardeners or plant later. 

www.botanicalinterests.com
A packet of cilantro seeds is inexpensive and holds far more seeds than you need to plant at one time.

Q: Why are my herbs dying?

A: Many of our readers e-mailed us asking one main question: Why are my herbs dying?

At The Herb Companion, we thought we would resurrect our “Herb 911” series to cover additional herbs. Our past “Herb 911” entries included basil (Ocimum basilicum), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), mint (Mentha spp.), lavender (Lavandula spp.), and sage (Salvia officinalis). Let us know what herbs you are having a difficult time growing and we will try to cover it.

Thyme is a perennial herb that is hardy to dry and rugged terrain. For this reason, you can sometimes find it in the crevasse of a rock wall. It is often used as ground cover or in a raised bed in an herb garden. There are many reasons why thyme can take a turn for the worse; a few being sun exposure (or lack there of), poor location, amount of water and balanced soil.

Tips for Keeping your Thyme Alive

• If your thyme is lighter in color, it may be due to the location. Keep your thyme in a bright, sunny location that also has morning or afternoon shade. Make sure the location is also sheltered from winds.

• Balancing the soil is a trick and an often over looked step in overall plant care. If your thyme plant is looking bad, it might be the soil’s pH. Keep the pH level of the soil between 5.5 and 7.0 is ideal as the soil should be neutral to slightly basic. You can buy a pH test kit at your local nursery or hardware store.

• If the soil is well balanced and you’ve found the ideal location, the problem may be watering too much or not enough. Like other plant, the watering amount depends on the size, age and the location of the plant. Thyme ranges in sizes from 3 inches with an 18 inch spread to 14 inches with a spread of 3 feet—depending on if it is a shrub or creeping variety of thyme. Start with 2 to 3 cups of water once every three days and adjust from there. If you spot mold or fungus growing at the base of the plant, cut back on the water. If the soil is dry and flaky, this means you should add more water.

• Regardless of the variety, Thyme flourishes in warmer weather. If you are growing thyme either from seeds, divisions or cuttings, it is essential that the temperature does not go below 55 degrees. Usually propagation takes place just before the last frost, however, you can start now as long as they stay indoors or in a green house during the winter months.

Do you have problems growing thyme? What herbs do you have a difficult time growing? Let’s chat about it; drop me a comment or email me at snelson@ogdenpubs.com.

If I had a greener thumb or more dispensable income I would fill my house with fresh cut flowers everyday. Instead I only buy cut flowers on special occasions and struggle to keep them alive for as long as possible until finally surrendering to their wilted petals and hanging them up to dry. The bouquets I get are usually from the local co-op or farmers market and don’t normally come with commercial preservatives like store-bought flowers. But a couple of days ago I found an interesting solution. 

After dining with my aunt, she gave me an arrangement of some of the beautiful, golden mums that I’d been admiring in her yard and told me to add a little bit of hydrogen peroxide and sugar to their water. I must have looked confused because she quickly explained that the hydrogen peroxide helps to kill bacteria and the sugar gives nutrients. Luckily, I had both hydrogen peroxide and sugar at home, so I quickly added it to the mums’ water and to another bouquet of flowers from a few days earlier.

Photo by gregw/Courtesy Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregw/

For now the wilting of my older flowers seems to have stalled and the mums still look bright and fresh, but I’m going to wait a couple more days before I give this method my full approval. Actually, homemade floral preservatives are relatively respected according to The University of New Hampshire’s Cooperative Extension. In fact, they recommend using the soft drink Sprite diluted with equal parts water or combining 4 teaspoons of cane sugar with 2 tablespoons of white distilled vinegar.

Photo by Compton & Wright/Courtesy Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/comptonwright/

Whether you make your own natural preservatives, buy them at the store or go preservative-free, experts at The University of Minnesota and The University of New Hampshire Extensions agree that you have to change the water and trim the stems daily if you want your fresh cut flowers to last a while. Once again proving that there are no true shortcuts to success in life or in gardening – it just takes time and labor. 

Have you made your own floral preservatives before? What method worked best? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Cynthia Meredith has been gardening with herbs, reading about herbs, and discussing herb gardening in Texas for more than 20 years. She has owned The Herb Cottage (www.theherbcottage.com) for over 10 years, selling herb plants to people all over our state. 

Well, much to my delight, we had rain this week! Two inches fell yesterday and it's raining lightly now as I write. I couldn't be more pleased. The leaves on the grapefruit and blood orange trees have finally unfurled after months of being curled up to prevent transpiration as best as they could. Poor things... they were so stressed.

What about the herb garden, you may ask? Well, I had cut back more herb plants about a week or so ago and already they are showing new growth. Of course, I have been watering them, too. All the cooler season herbs I seeded in flats are doing great: cilantro, thyme, dill, chervil and arugula are all almost ready to pot up.

If it stops raining later this afternoon I'm going to seed parsley, both curly leaf and flat leaf, in one herb bed. I'm going to do the curly variety as a border, with the flat leaf behind it. Later, I'm going to plant lettuce and mesclun greens in that bed since it's near the back door, handy to the kitchen.

The large potted plants, big basil specimens, blue spice basil — a great butterfly attractor when in bloom — olive trees (yes, the olive is considered an herb) and rosemary look so much better with the rainwater rather than the well water they've been getting. Rainwater is so soft compared to our mineral-rich well water, the plants prefer it. Alas, I wish I could give then rainwater each week, but that is not how it's been going here, as you know.

I have a couple of large lavender plants outside the yard near some olive and pomegranate trees I put in the ground; this is my little Mediterranean garden. Lavender sits in the middle of the area with pomegranate on the right and olive on the left in the background behind the lavender group. I have not watered any of this area at all during the drought. Now, I'm a little concerned about the lavender. Here in our area, after lavender has been growing in very dry conditions for a while, rain can cause fungus to attack the plant and eventually compromise it so much it dies. I hope that doesn't happen!

With the rains, the bay laurel looks a lot happier, like it can relax and enjoy being alive rather than being stiff and closed up to keep what little moisture is in the leaves. I know I feel more relaxed and  a lot happier with the rain. And, I have more hours in the day to tend  to plants, seed more flats and do other things — like write — because I don't have to spend time watering. I hope, if you need rain, you're getting what you need. And, I hope you're enjoying the late summer with your herbs.

This is my little water garden with raindrops. The pipe on the left attaches to the gutter on the house and brings rainwater into the pond. We set it up when we think it's going to rain. Notice how completely brown it is around the pond. That should be green, growing grass. But, not this year! Of course, it cuts down on the mowing!!

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
—Marcus Tullius Cicero

Q: What is the best way to grow and dry garlic? I live in Minnesota, is there a list of herbs that I can grow, harvest and dry for my personal use?
—Sent via e-mail from J. Werlinger

A: Growing garlic is fairly easy. However, harsh Minnesota weather isn’t exactly the ideal growing climate for garlic.

Photo by graibeard/Courtesy of Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8393288@N04/ 

Growing Garlic

Latin name:  Allium sativum L. 

Soil condition: Garlic thrives in well-drained soil with a pH level between 4.5 and 8.3. If you are not sure if the soil to too acidic or too basic, test the soil by purchasing a pH test strip from your local garden store. Garlic is not drought tolerant and does not do well in extremely wet soil.

Temperature: Garlic will typically germinated in 60 to 80 degree weather.
Maintenance: Keep an eye out for these pests: Onion thrips, armyworms and onion maggots. Although pests are not a big issue with garlic, it is something to keep in the back of your mind. If you are planning on growing garlic, make sure you stay on top of weeds, as garlic does not fare well against them.

For additional reading on growing garlic in Minnesota, visit The University of Minnesota: Extension.

Drying Garlic

Regardless of which method you choose to dry garlic, the most important component is good air circulation. You will want to store your drying garlic in a dark and cool location.
Hanging garlic: This is the method I recommend as it efficiently dries the garlic and minimal space is required. Tie 7-12 garlic stalks together to forms a bundle. Check on the garlic maybe once a month. The type of garlic will depend on the drying time, however, the process will take anywhere from 6 to 8 months.

For additional reading on drying herbs, read DIY: Drying Fresh Herbs.

Growing Herbs in Minnesota

The USDA Hardiness Zones notes that Minnesota's average minimum winter temperatures range from -20 to -45 degrees. That being said, growing herbs indoors throughout the winter months is a great option for colder climates.

Growing Herbs Indoors

Growing herbs indoors is a great way to enjoy summer flavors during the cold winter months. These herbs do fairly well indoors: basil, bay, cilantro, chives, dill, ginger, lemon verbena, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme. Keep in mind each herb’s growing requirements (watering, sunlight, fertilizer, etc.).

For additional reading on this subject, read long time herb gardener Betsy Strauch's article Wintering Herbs Indoors. If you are interested in creating a winter herb drying display basket, read Rosemary McCreary's An Indoor Visual Feast. 

Do you live in a cold climate-growing zone? What herbs do you have success with and which do you bring indoors during the winter months? Drop me a comment or e-mail me at: snelson@ogdenpubs.com.

We seem to be over the hump here in south-central Texas for summer heat. The temperatures have remained in the high 80s for the last week or so, just reaching into the low 90s by late afternoon for just a short time. The night temperatures have dropped, too. Plants are less stressed, flowers are beginning to bloom again and herbs in gardens and pots are putting on new growth, looking decidedly perkier than they did just a few weeks ago. What a difference cooler weather makes!

When I was younger, I would often mix up the herbs in my mother’s potted herb garden. Fortunately, I can now distinguish most herbs apart.

A few weeks ago I left town and asked a good friend to house sit for me. I made the assumption that my friend knew the differences between my potted herbs I have in my apartment: oregano, basil, sage, thyme, lavender and rosemary. A few hours after I left my apartment, I received a frantic call from my friend regarding which plants were what. I came home a few days later to find post-it note madness. A sticky label graced every one of my potted herbs, identifying which herb was which. As amused as I was, I thought a more permanent label might be handy for the next time I asked a friend to house sit.

1. Gather painters tape, terracotta planters and chalk to make these easy to maintain herb planter labels. You can purchase chalkboard paint, which converst most any surface to a chalkboard, at most art supply stores.  

2. Place painters tape on the planter in a rectangle formation.

3. Apply chalkboard paint in the exposed area.

4. Once the paint is dry, pull the tape off of the pot.

5. Using chalk write the name of the herb on the chalkboard area.

How do you keep your herbs straight? Drop me a comment and let’s chat about it!