It’s that time of year again! It’s time for the mid-season clean up of my herb garden. Though I live in the north where we get snow and ice and really ugly weather, my herbs are accessible nearly year round and start to really grow again starting in April. By July, it’s a jungle out there!
Because many of my herbs over-winter, they are very stalky, leggy and tall by July. For instance, my main parsley plant looks more like a celery plant than parsley at the moment. My thyme is spreading (AGAIN…) and the garlics have had their flower heads chopped off. The strawberries who share the bed are starting to spread like spiders and my mint is going to flower to try to invade even further. Thankfully, I really enjoy keeping my mint in check.
Here’s what I did in my herb bed.
- Parsley– Chop down to the root to invigorate more leafy growth for the last half of the summer. Also if you’ve never let your parley go to flower, you should try it once. It has the most beautiful floral scented flowers!
- Oregano– Cut the foliage in half to get rid of flowers and encourage growth of additional foliage. I did think about taking parts of the plants I have to the front beds for herbscaping, but the plants ended up being smaller than I wanted them to be. I cut the plants and am drying some for gifts this winter.
- Thyme– Cut the plant in half and relocate the larger half to the front beds for herbscaping. I also cut some to dry some for use in gifts this winter.
- Lemon Thyme– Find it in the jungle! I added this in the spring so I want it to be well established for winter.
- Mint– Keep the peppermint plant and pull out the “mint” plant. I like the taste of the actual peppermint plant rather than the generic “mint” plant. The generic plant is also more “weedy” looking than the peppermint so for visual purposes I am eliminating it from the bed.
- Rosemary– This plant, amazingly, survived last winter and is now doing really well! I need to give her some more room to grow and be better established for this coming winter.
- Sage– I have some sage that was from last season and some that was seeded this spring. I need to start to get the plants under control. There is currently too much. I am drying the extra for gifts this winter since I already have quite a bit that is in the front beds.
- Chamomile– This is a great plant this year! She came up from a seed that I planted over a year ago. I’m not as well versed on using the plant I grow so I’m thinking this season I am going to start with drying the flowers and some leaves to share with my tea-loving friends over the holidays.
- Garlic Chives– In my vast search for regular chives last year, I planted some garlic chives late in the season. They over-wintered well and is finally getting buds. It is not a huge plant so I’m going to leave this as-is. Also, I still haven’t found regular chives in my area, but I have seeded some in the front beds. Next summer, this plant should be large enough to bring a small amount into the herb garden.
- Fennel– I love Florence Fennel, but I can’t seem to get it to grow a bulb like it should. I had 2 plants come up from leftover seeds from last year and they were promising! Then they never did create the bulb. I decided to pull them out to make more room in the garden. I also have some growing in the veggie garden that look promising for bulbing so wish me luck!
- Garlic– Once the stalks dry, I’m digging up the bulbs, drying them in the sun and using them! You will never know how amazing fresh garlic is until you try it. I dislike how it looks visually in the bed, but it’s the safest place for me to grow the garlic since it goes in the ground in October for the next summer.
One of my favorite things about gardening is that it is always changing. Just because you start something in one area doesn’t mean that it is going to stay there OR that it is going to fit there the entire season. It changes fast enough to keep my attention and fascination, but slow enough so that I don’t feel overwhelmed. My herb garden serves me year-round, but it does need some taming half way through the season. I’m happy with the results and excited to see how it transforms the last half of the season.
When are you doing your mid-season clean up of your garden? What do you do with your extras? And, if anyone has any advice on which parts of the chamomile plant are best for tea or how to make Florence Fennel create a bulb, I would love to hear.