Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Herbs


We grow a wide variety of herbs at One Love Farm. We use basil and parsley in our lettuce mix. Rosemary and oregeno are used in our focaccia. Dill, chives and other herbs are used in our seasoning mix. Mint makes a wonderful iced tea. We also use a ton of herbs to make our chili powder every fall. In addition to lots of hot peppers, we use oregeno, parsley, thyme and other herbs in the chili powder mix. You would be amazed at the volume of herbs required to make a tiny jar of chili powder.

In the past, I would fit herbs in anywhere I could. A patch on a hill here, a bunch next to the steps there. I would even mix them in with the lettuce and other veggies where I had room. This year I decided to expand the herbs and give them their own garden. So, I put down a few yards of good soil, added in my organic fertilizer and planted several dozen parsley, sage, thyme, mint and rosemary plants. I added in a bunch of basil for good measure. So far the herbs have done great. In fact, I found a rabbit enjoying some parsley this afternoon.

There is an old saying that herbs thrive on neglect. I think that meams they don't like to be fertilized too much or watered too much. I know that a lot of herbs like to dry out between waterings. No such luck this June as we had rain 24 out of 30 days. However, with the very dry months coming up, I am sure I will be watering the herb garden quite a bit this July and August.

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