| At the beginning of a new season my herb garden is waking up – the new sage plants I planted last year are just coming into flower – I’ve had to prune the Rosemary hard as its straggling all over, and the herbs are in much better shape than last year when heavy rain in the winter kept them cold. It has been very warm in April even though its raining now, so I have a good crop of herbs. Here is a herb audit:
Chives – just starting to re-grow – clump is about 15cm diameter, and chives are about 10cm high, though still pretty thin I can now start to use small amounts of fresh herb.
Rosemary – I have two medium sized bushes, and both have been flowering for a couple of months. I have had to trim the bush in the herb garden back as it is really straggly. I can use Rosemary all the year round for cooking, but only in autumn for making herbal infusions and decoctions.
Sage – I’ve still got the oldish woody bush about 90cm high – I trimmed it in autumn two years ago and its just lingered just as it was then. The two new small plants I planted to replace it are now around 18” high and both coming into flower with those lovely purple flowers.
Golden Oregano – There are a few little branches growing at the moment, in the middle of a clump of oregano (badly planted)
Marjoram – a low-growing clump of variegated about 60 cm diameter and a smaller clump of golden. Usable, though not at its best.
Strawberry plants – These are in strawberry pots and already are covered in flowers and a couple ready to grow berries.
Thyme – I have several separate clumps in sunny parts of the garden but they don’t seem to grow a lot bigger than 10-15 cm. Enough for cooking..
Sweet Woodruff – A friend gave this to me several years ago and said “it spreads”. It does, but you can always pull up handfuls. Its regrowing as usual everywhere in the herb garden.
Lavender : At least half of the plants in the herb garden die each winter and I have to replace them. The Lavender I have in other warmer areas of the garden I planted last year are doing well.
Brown Fennel – Its starting to grow its lovely plumes again so that’s OK
Artemesia (Lad’s Love) I planted three tiny bushes last year and they are all growing to a greater or lesser degree. This lovely herb reminds me of my Grannie’s garden but I can’t plant one in my herb garden until it’s a bit stronger.
Artemesia (Wormwood) I planted three variegated Wormwood plants last year and they seemed to flourish, they are herbaceous so died down. Its too soon to call to know if they’ve survived or not.
Basil – I’ve planted this in a pot indoors and its growing well – I’ll move it out in a week or so
Coriander – Planted in a pot its now ready to move out.
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