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tn_veggie_gardner

Herbs: Whatcha think?

tn_veggie_gardner
14 years ago

I decided to get a bit more creative with my herbs this year. Growing some for culinary use & some just cuz. =)

Let me know what you think & any tips on any of these. Starting all from seed. Thanks! - Steve

Tarragon

Long Island Mammoth Dill

Cinnamon Basil

Mustard Plant

Broad Leaf Sage

Echinacea Purpurea

Comments (10)

  • Daisyduckworth
    14 years ago

    Tarragon from seed, huh! I'm prepared to bet you won't get French Tarragon, but the dreaded Russian Tarragon instead (an almost tasteless weed). French Tarragon rarely sets seeds. You might get Winter Tarragon (Tagetes lucida), also known as Mexican Marigold Mint. This is an acceptable substitute for the Real Thing - it's what I have, and it's a pretty little shrub.

    Cinnamon Basil goes very nicely when added to your apple, in pies, crumbles, turnovers - even in apple sauce to go with your pork or ham. Good with pears, too.

    Hint for the Mustard: As well as growing it for the leaves and seeds, grow some and use them as sprouts. Nice on sandwiches etc, and also a good home project for the kids.

    Echinacea: Such a pretty plant! I love it, but for the life of me I can't get it to last for more than one season! It's supposed to be biennial, but once it dies down (even here in our very mild winters), it never resurrects. It won't self-seed for me, either, drat it.

    Good luck with them all!

  • marlingardener
    14 years ago

    Now, this opinion is coming from a woman who never met an herb she didn't like, so take it with a pinch of salt!
    Mammoth dill--love it, and so do swallowtail butterflies which use it as a host plant. When cutting, watch out for the butterfly eggs and avoid cutting that frond. You'll still have plenty of dill and butterflies, too.
    We have tagetes lucida, the Mexican Mint Marigold version of tarragon since French can't stand our humidity and heat. Great plant, flowers in the fall with little yellow daisies. I make tarragon vinegar and tarragon butter, as well as using it with green beans. A few leaves perk up a green salad, also.
    Cinnamon basil I use almost exclusively as an ornamental and for our bees. Pretty plant and the bees love the flowers. You might not want to let yours flower if you want to use it for culinary purposes.
    Sage is one of my favorites. It's pretty and so useful. Try chopping some fine and putting it in an omelet, or mixing with bread crumbs and spinach and stuffing a pork chop.
    You have chosen some fine herbs there!

  • fatamorgana2121
    14 years ago

    Tarragon - search back through the posts here. Much has been said about tarragon and growing it from seed.

    Long Island Mammoth Dill - dill is always nice. If you let it, it will drop seed and come back each year unbidden. A good thing in my book.

    Cinnamon Basil - basils are always nice as well as easy to grow.

    Mustard Plant - A variety for seed or for using the leaves green in salads? I've grown it for the salad bowl. Mixed sparingly with other greens its peppery taste is quite pleasant.

    Broad Leaf Sage - I love sage. It is pretty as well as useful in the kitchen and for medicinal purposes.

    Echinacea Purpurea - I love native plants especially those that bloom and attract pollinators. The purple coneflower is a perennial and if it is happy, it will come back each year bigger and better. If there are seeds that escape the finches and other seed eaters, the dropped seeds will grow into new plants. You can easily dig and move when they are small if you wish.

    FataMorgana

  • maifleur01
    14 years ago

    FYI on mustard's. Many of the lettuce mixtures that are labeled as spicy lettuce or spicy stir fry greens for cutting have large amounts of various mustards in their mixtures. You might want to look at a package since there are many different types of mustards.

  • tn_veggie_gardner
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks y'all. =)

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    14 years ago

    daisy, I wonder what's going on with you and echinacea? Is your climate, perhaps, too warm all year round? Now that I think about it, I rarely saw coneflowers when I lived in a location with very mild winters. Yet, they flourish in much colder (winter) parts of the country.

    They are perennials, by the way. Mine have gotten bigger every year for 5 years. I'm just speculating on the need for a winter cold period, by the way. I may be totally wrong about that.

    Tn gardener, be sure to give these plant selections plenty of space and plenty of full sun.

    FataMorgana, I don't think that a single seed has escaped the gold finches in the 5 years since I planted about 20 of these plants. They come in such numbers that the neighbors sit on their back porch to watch the spectacle, lol.

  • opal52
    14 years ago

    If you have a farmer's market nearby, try buying a bunch of french tarragon and rooting it. I did that last year and found it root's easily. Need to find some that was harvested with soft wood, not thin new growth. It may have been luck that I went to the market when the tarragon was freshly cut and had some sprigs at the right stage for rooting. It made it through the winter outside (still dormant but green wood). It should work the same in your zone.

    Rhizo_1, I started coneflowers from seed years ago. Still have them and they spread as well as the clump growing. I think the seeds the birds don't get fall on the ground and take root. I could be wrong, but I believe purple coneflowers are native to our area, so maybe the winter is important.

  • fatamorgana2121
    14 years ago

    If I recall correctly, E. purpurea doesn't require cold stratification to germinate but I know E. paradoxa, E. angustifolia, and E. pallida do. I suspect a cold winter is part of what the echinacea clan expects. Conditions outside of that very well could make them behave differently.

    FataMorgana

  • tn_veggie_gardner
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Ok, thanks! =)

  • cyrus_gardner
    14 years ago

    Instead of planting from seeds, you can grow them by rooting
    store-bought vegetables, as tarragon, mentioned.
    - tarragon
    - basils
    -shiso
    - lemon grass
    - mints
    I have not tried the followings but they might also be possible:
    - oregano
    - marjoram
    - rosemay