Herbs

Dormant - Asleep; a state of inactivity or rest.

February 10, 2009

We got some more fresh snow today, not too much and it melted off the roads pretty quickly (at least where I was - I heard it was not so good for others!). I had intended to photograph my rosemary today, but it was much browner than I had anticipated, and the creeping thyme still has a little color to it. Besides, to photograph the rosemary I would have had to kneel in the snow, and I wasn't too crazy about that idea. The creeping thyme is so pretty in the summer, I think I could have a whole big area covered with it. I like oregano and majoram because at our old house they had started to creep up the foundation of the house and that looked really neat. My plants here aren't big enough to do that yet. I guess that's the difference between a southern exposure versus a western exposure. Anyway, if you don't have herbs in your garden, you should - even if your garden is nothing but a sunny kitchen window. I love fresh herbs in the summer, and I can almost always use rosemary fresh year round. At the end of the summer I dry a bunch of stuff, (thyme, basil, parsley, cilantro, oregano, & majoram) and have it to use all winter long. I haven't bought these items from the store in years! All are perennial expept the basil, and cilantro, but strangely my cilantro keeps coming back. I haven't had good luck with dill since we've moved, but I'll keep trying. Dill is so tempermental. I had to dig up my chives last year to make room for pumpkins and never got them replanted, but I will this spring. They grow like crazy and we just love them on or in almost everything. I tried garlic once at our old house, and that turned out nicely. I haven't tried it again because I haven't remembered. I'll have to give that another go this spring. Here it is February already - it's almost time to start thinking about the garden. Here's to hoping that my dill will grow, I will get a decent apple crop, and the neighbor kids will stay out of my strawberries!