All about garden herbs

[tripletfeb]

How is everyone's herb garden coming along?

My lemon balm is going CRAZY. It's an enormous bush right now. I'm not sure what to do with it...

Parsley, Pineapple mint, spearmint, Oregano, Sesame, Flax, and Lemon Thyme are all doing well. Very healthy.

The Basil, Chamomile, Dill, and Sage are struggling to survive.

The Black Cumin (Black Seed), English Thyme, and Chives never germinated at all.

Big fat miss here. Not a dang thing came up for me. I think my pots need better drainage holes

 

[pennyJo1960]

I have garlic and onion chives 11 years old. Drainage is one of the best things.

 

[TooCheep]

How is everyone's herb garden coming along?

My lemon balm is going CRAZY. It's an enormous bush right now. I'm not sure what to do with it...

Parsley, Pineapple mint, spearmint, Oregano, Sesame, Flax, and Lemon Thyme are all doing well. Very healthy.

The Basil, Chamomile, Dill, and Sage are struggling to survive.

The Black Cumin (Black Seed), English Thyme, and Chives never germinated at all.

The main thing I do with lemon balm is tea. I commonly add a few crushed leaves when I brew green tea for the flavor. The leaves can be added to a mixed salad and used as a flavoring in other foods.

Mints are good medicinals. Lemon balm in particular is good for reducing stress & insomnia (excellent in combination with Chamomile), settling an upset stomach, and healing cold sores (when made into a lotion).

Lemon balm (and other mints) are trivial to preserve. Younger leaves are best. Just cut off and rinse some branches, bunch and hang them to dry or remove the leaves and dry them on a flat surface. It only takes a couple of days to dry. Then you can simply hang the branches or take the loose leaves and store them in a mason jar for future use.

 

[TJAnonymous]

The main thing I do with lemon balm is tea. I commonly add a few crushed leaves when I brew green tea for the flavor. The leaves can be added to a mixed salad and used as a flavoring in other foods.

Mints are good medicinals. Lemon balm in particular is good for reducing stress & insomnia (excellent in combination with Chamomile), settling an upset stomach, and healing cold sores (when made into a lotion).

Lemon balm (and other mints) are trivial to preserve. Younger leaves are best. Just cut off and rinse some branches, bunch and hang them to dry or remove the leaves and dry them on a flat surface. It only takes a couple of days to dry. Then you can simply hang the branches or take the loose leaves and store them in a mason jar for future use.

I saved a lot of dried basil and butterfly pea from last year in mason jars. I will cut some lemon balm and dry it in the same manner. There's just so. much. of. it. Sheesh.... I'm glad I put it in a raised bed or it'd be taking over. I already know it's in the mint family and so prone to going out of control. But Good Lord. I'd be happy if my Basil were doing that well. I absolutely LOVE the smell of fresh basil. I could roll in it like a cat with catnip and be happy all day.

 

[Fishychix]

How is everyone's herb garden coming along?

My lemon balm is going CRAZY. It's an enormous bush right now. I'm not sure what to do with it...

Parsley, Pineapple mint, spearmint, Oregano, Sesame, Flax, and Lemon Thyme are all doing well. Very healthy.

The Basil, Chamomile, Dill, and Sage are struggling to survive.

The Black Cumin (Black Seed), English Thyme, and Chives never germinated at all.

Eh. The squirrels are digging in the potted herbs. I cant decide where to permanently plant them. The chives we put into a bucket temporarily several years ago are doing great though

 

[chickengr]

this year I will plant herbs around other veggies (tomatoes, cukes, etc). if they go out of control my poultry will be happy.

 

[Swiss]

My herbs are very happy (except for the cilantro, which I am not sure was very viable, any way... and the parsley and chamomile that haven't come up, yet).

This bed of very happy herbs was planted in the spring of 2022:
Top left: Egyptian walking onions from @Sally PB
Top middle: Oregano
Top right: baby basil (you can't really see them in here because they basically just popped out of the ground)
Under the EWO: lettuce that is just popping out of the ground
Under the lettuce: parsley, and the section under that one I seeded more parsley
To the right of the lettuce and parsley: cilantro seeds planted
Under parsley: thyme
Under thyme: chives
Under chives: sage
The rest are sweet pepper plants.

Dill that will definitely need to be thinned out:

A patch of yarrow that grows wild everywhere, but doesn't get mowed down at the edge of my strawberry and asparagus bed:

 

[TooCheep]

My herbs are very happy (except for the cilantro, which I am not sure was very viable, any way...

Cilantro leaves are only good until the plant bolts (grows a flower stalk) in hot weather. Then the leaves change shape and lose their flavor. At that point, you can consider it dead or wait to collect the seeds which can be ground as a spice. (aka: coriander).

A patch of yarrow that grows wild everywhere, but doesn't get mowed down at the edge of my strawberry and asparagus bed:
View attachment 3535216

Lucky... I found out about yarrow last year and am just growing some for the first time. It is an excellent medicinal herb with a number of useful benefits.

 

[TXchickmum]

I have thyme, oregano, lemon balm, mint, bee balm, and rosemary that all come back every year (10 years and counting). The rosemary never freezes. Cilantro, basil, and lavender are doing well, too.

 

[Smokerbill]

The main thing I do with lemon balm is tea. I commonly add a few crushed leaves when I brew green tea for the flavor. The leaves can be added to a mixed salad and used as a flavoring in other foods.

Mints are good medicinals. Lemon balm in particular is good for reducing stress & insomnia (excellent in combination with Chamomile), settling an upset stomach, and healing cold sores (when made into a lotion).

Lemon balm (and other mints) are trivial to preserve. Younger leaves are best. Just cut off and rinse some branches, bunch and hang them to dry or remove the leaves and dry them on a flat surface. It only takes a couple of days to dry. Then you can simply hang the branches or take the loose leaves and store them in a mason jar for future use.

A corner of one of my raised beds is filled with lemon balm. It's the one and only plant in my garden that I encourage the chickens to eat! Some of them seem to love it.