Plant some herbs!

Plant some herbs!
by Bobbi A. Chukran

Fall is the perfect time in central Texas to plant new perennial herbs and some annuals. My "rule" is that if it's not freezing, I can plant herbs.  As long as they are watered well while getting established,  and as long as I don't plop them out into the middle of a blazing lawn with no shade, they'll do fine.  I also divide and move some of my perennials during the fall, too.

We use a lot of our herbs for cooking, but even if you don't cook, it's worthwhile to grow herbs because they attract and support our pollinators.   And they make gorgeous landscape plants when tucked in here and there with the roses or other shrubs.

Honeybee on blooming rosemary plant in a Texas garden

It's still in the upper 90's here, and a few days last week went over 100.  But herbs are tough, and some even like the heat.

Rosemary harvest for drying

This time of year, your best bet is to try and find plants in local nurseries.  It's a bit late to start plants from seeds, although people in central and south Texas can probably get a small crop of basil started and harvested before our first freeze.

Herbs and a small fig tree grow in raised cement block beds in a former garden.

Herbs do very well in raised beds since they don't like to get their "feet" wet.  This photo shows rosemary, a small fig tree, santolina, and potted herbs of various kinds.  The cement blocks were painted with a very thin wash of leftover latex paint.

Lavender in a Texas garden

Herbs like lavender especially like growing in containers and pots.  Be careful not to water them too much, or they'll turn to lavender mush. :-)

Sweet marjoram growing in a Texas garden

One of my favorite herbs is sweet marjoram.  It's kin to oregano, and is not quite as easy to find in nurseries, but is well worth seeking out.  I harvest it in the fall and dry it.  It's an essential ingredient in my secret Italian herbs mixture.  LOL.  OK, it's not THAT secret.  I usually use a mixture of sweet basil, rosemary, oregano and sweet marjoram, depending on what I have at the time.

I hope this has given you a little spark of inspiration to plant a few herbs.  If you're like me, you'll get obsessed with them and expand your garden over the years, adding new plants as you find them.

Feel free to leave comments and questions.  I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Happy trails, and happy gardening!

bobbi ann

Herb Garden Inspiration

Birdbath, with comfrey

Dear friends,

Over the years, I think the thing that has given me most pleasure in my garden has been growing and using herbs. I started out with a small basil plant in a pot, and since then have grown the everyday herbs, like rosemary, and the more unusual herbs, like madder, whose roots are used to make a gorgeous red dye.

Lavender, grown in Leander limestone

I use my herbs for all sorts of things---for cooking, for crafts, and for medicine. This time of year, I always start thinking about what new herbs I want to add to my garden, since the fall is an excellent time to plant them here in Central Texas. I usually start with plants from local nurseries if I can, since it takes so long to grow some of them from seed. After they get larger, I divide the perennials or take cuttings from the annuals.

Rosemary, also grown on almost solid limestone in the Texas Hill Country

 I thought I'd share a few photos with you of the herbs in my cottage garden.  Maybe it will give you some ideas for planting your own herb garden.  Herbs really can enhance your life, in so many ways.  If you don't currently grow herbs, why not give them a try?  They're easy to grow, smell good, attract beneficial insects and pollinators (always important), and are beautiful, to boot!

Texas hill country garden, with rosemary, santolina, grapes, cactus and a really big fence to keep the deer out!

Lemon thyme is happy growing in a small pot.  A small bay tree is to the left.

Sweet marjoram.  I use this herb a lot in my special dried Italian Herb Bouquet mix, for cooking

A beloved gift from a friend, filled with fresh cut rosemary branches

I'll be writing more about my herb garden, how I use my herbs, and some tips and ideas for planting in the months ahead.  So please come back to visit!

Happy gardening,

bobbi c.
http://bobbichukran.com

A new start

Hi friends!

It's been ever so long since I posted here. I've been busy painting the concrete floor in our new little cottage, and that's turned into a huge job. I despise carpet, and have dust allergies to boot, so almost the first thing we did was remove it and I filled in all the nail holes with patching stuff...over 750 of them! A few more days of scraping and cleaning and it was ready for paint. Yesterday I finished up the last top-coat of paint/stain, and now I need to put on the finish coat. Luckily it is a *small* cottage. LOL.

The garden! Well, it's going slowly. I have a good reason...it's been over 90-degrees here for the last few weeks, and that's not good for new plants. Still, I couldn't resist putting in a few herbs in the existing flower bed alongside the house. Some boob planted crotons there and covered their roots with BLACK mulch. Good grief. I like crotons, sort of, but they are not bedding plants; they are houseplants. And black mulch just isn't good for anything in this climate.

Not to mention that it's black because it's been dyed. As I said, good grief!

So in their place are new rosemary, lavender, Mexican bush sage and salvia plants. I know all of those will appreciate the heat bouncing back off the light colored house and the concrete driveway beside it. I'm going to love getting out of the car and brushing up against them when they're larger, causing them to release their scents.

And I also planted a wee little fig tree there in the back garden area. It's about 8" tall now, and came from a cutting I took from the fig tree here at the Big House.

I'm sure you'll understand how happy I was to find earthworms in the soil there. That was exciting. (Yes, I get excited over worms. Don't you? LOL)

More later....some photos eventually, too!

Dig it!

bobbi c.