@JRBringhurst, do you have Elephant Garlic that actrually tastes like garlic? Mine is mild like a leek, which is its closest relative.
I have a Chives, Garlic Chives and Chinese Chives planted here and there under fruit trees or in food forest beds.
Also have walking onions and bocking 14 comfrey planted in the mulch ring of most of my fruit trees now.
These WOs were planted from bulbs last June. Here in southern TN the WOs are up and green most of the year. They do get bit back some with the coldest days of winter but come right back when it warms up a little.
I have planted bocking 14 comfrey in the mulch rings of all fruit trees now. The one showing in the pic above was planted late Feb… It came up in 3 days.. has gotten frosted a few times… but keeps on coming back out.
When I plant my Tomatoes (late April).. I like to plant sweet basil between each tomato plant.
It smells so good… and is a good reminder that I need to make a big pot of roasted tomato basil soup.
TNHunter
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I think it tastes like garlic, though I am not as particular as some about the nuances of garlic flavor. It has a milder taste than some of the more pungent garlic varieties, but to me a leek is much more oniony. It certainly behaves like garlic in the garden. The cloves once dried last a long time in storage, and can be used for many months. We harvest them when the seed stalks are completely dry. Even when you dig them out, they always come back–they produce many small corms, which I think form as bulbs the following year.
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Does anybody here grow sumac? My wife asked about it. She likes zaatar.
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no, but if you have a lot of space its a great tree. but it is a thicket forming tree. i forage it a lot though, no space or id grow it. theyre really easy to identify and if yorue not squeamish about foraging near roads (which I am not, but some avoid it), theyre easy to find. they line basically every road in new york at least
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i need to start my dill seeds, i havent grown them before. i assume they are tough germinators like carrots and use the same methods?
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This is my first year too, hadn’t thought about the carrot comparison but makes perfect sense.
I’ve never had any issues germinating carrots, but maybe that’s because I’m prepared for battle. My first round of dill was a 4-cell somewhat heavily seeded and I got like 3 germs all of which died. I pinned that on leaving the humidity dome on during a heat wave in the low 90s, but maybe I just wasn’t approaching them right. My spring seed starting operation is usually pretty fast and loose.
Started another round of dill seeds this week, well see
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I doubt that dill seeds are difficult to germinate, because they self-seed like crazy in my garden. I never have to sow seeds; dill seedlings come up everywhere and need to be weeded out. They keep coming up all through the growing season.
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Same. Thousands everywhere coming in spring and fall. I original started my dill from seeds indoors. Maybe they take a little longer than others to pop up. @crater i would just sprinkle them in the spot you want them and not mess with babying them indoors. Ive never heard of carrots being hard…direct sow and off you go. They’ll all come up with no effort.
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i do! i have several year old staghorn trees. they’ve produced heads last year and i managed to get one fully before the birds. i love it as a spice
last year early summer
they do want to sucker, just chop with a sharp shovel and you can stop them or replant them where you’d like another tree
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I’ve been picking oregano, parsley, thyme, lovage, green onion and arugula, and dill and cilantro seedlings I’m weeding out and eating. It’s SO nice that food finally has flavor again!! Plus, I love seeing kids walk along grabbing them all and munching. Makes it all worth it.
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i bought a couple store grown herbs in pots and have them sitting under my mineola in a south facing window in our bedroom. great to have fresh herbs all winter. im going to increase this to 3 more types next winter by just potting a few from my herbs bed im putting in this spring.
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i started some hyssop for the flowers, what’s to be done with those besides look at them? anyone growing it?
that and mountain mint. still not sure what to do with them once they grow up
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i grow giant purple hyssop in my garden. i dont do anything with it but its a favorite of the bees for late nectar
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I had to pick a new plant to fill what sow exotic ran out of before shipping my order (that aside…), i picked Vietnamese coriander as a replacement. Anyone have any anecdotes to share on it? Will it do alright in a container for winter?
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I’m growing hyssop specifically to make the medieval recipes on this channel:
(also rue, costmary, savory, and lovage) Flavors you can’t really source nowadays outside of growing them yourself. I started from seed, and they were pretty pitiful last year, but came through the winter great and I’ll have enough to actually try it this year!
He actually suggests that one of the only ways to buy hyssop other than growing it yourself is as a tea, so I guess it makes good tea too?
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We put it in a “soda” we made at a farm soda making class last year. Other than that, I just grow it in the gardens for the pollinators. It’s proved to be relatively deer resistant, so I recommend it a lot.
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Yes.. it’s aromatic, for cooking - I just used it on fish today. And as a herbal tea, it helps with irritating coughs, or just for enjoyment :).
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I just planted hyssop last week in a mixed wine barrel. Haven’t grown it before, but it looks good and that’s even before blooming.
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Anyone interested in growing yomogi/Japanese mugwort (Artemisia princeps), a word of caution. It spreads very fast, aggressively and nonstop. It did not slow down all winter, even in my few mid/low 20s days. Mine is in a growbag raised bed thing, and it has spread to every section of it underneath the dividers.
Smells very good and is good to cook with. But it is a spreader.
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