I had a chance to get into the yard today and do some maintenance. The kitchen garden was looking a little tired and needed a refresh. The old basil plants came out and were turned into pesto. New basil plants were put in, the mint was potted up, and the remaining plants got shifted around.
We have been using a lot of basil this year, and hoping the new crop lasts into the fall. What is your go to herb or spice? I know @butcherbakertoiletrymaker favorite is cilantro.
I like basil a lot, and rosemary. But I think my favorite is thyme.
Very rude frankly to use that picture of mint.
@MegMegMcGee he thought he was soooo funny. I like chives, oregano, parsley, tarragon…hmmm, I like, grow, and use about 12 different herbs.
Kudos to casually trolling meg and butcher in the same post.
+1
Mint is super easy to grow!
maybe rosemary… I like it as a plant, for landscaping, in food (especially bread), and the Suzanne Vega song:
cute little blue flowers and so many bees…
@Lochaber
Rosemary is one of my favorites. I mainly use it as an ornamental plant but we have a popcorn recipe for it that I really like.
Forgot this
Rosemary is the best! Especially for focaccia…and homemade garlic bread.
Also for rosemary potatoes!!
(and for the carnivores amongst us–rosemary chicken!)
SUPER easy, but sooooo tasty with some really good Pita/Lavash/Naan, and some good hummus or tzatziki!😍🤗
If not for herbs we wouldn’t all be here together.
I’m growing basil, thyme, oregano and dill on purpose. There is some invasive cilantro in some of the beds because cilantro is proof of the existence of Satan.
I’d say basil is my favorite herb because it is the most versatile. You can use it in leaf form, fresh or dried, or you can make pesto. You can use it in Italian and various Asian cuisines. I have it on good authority that Myo will be making pesto and putting it on his poached salmon.
I am now wishing I included the “unlike” comment feature.
I love how bright and zippy that fresh parsley is. My parsley came back this year (it’s a biennial I believe) and set off some volunteers in three other spots. Which, oh no, darn, more flat leaf parsley. Oh no, the horror.
I also planted lemon balm for some reason this year. I think I thought I would use it to infuse water to drink more water. I should go trim some stalks and toss them in the pitcher in the fridge and see if that works.
@brightersideoflife
I agree about the parsley. Unfortunately this year our parsley has been awful. We have had great success over the years but it has been a stinker. We are on our second planting.
That reminds me I’m also growing parsley. Yes it is biennial.
I’m assuming next year the volunteers will come back as it will be their second year, so that will be fun.
Unrelated, my backyard has ridiculous amounts of mosquitoes and I don’t know what to do about it. Today around 3:30 I was out doing some light yard work and I looked down to cloud of at least 6 swarming around my lower legs. And those are just the ones I saw. I’ve also been a choice steak for mosquitoes, it’s a running joke in my family, but this is excessive even for me!
There’s no standing water. I put in rainscaping to drain the bottom part even better. I’m at a loss for what I do to prevent them.
It won’t help you this year, but I would recommend getting some DynaTraps for early next Spring, along with some mosquito bait that works with the traps. We live on a lake and used to have insane numbers of mosquitos, but this year there are none to be seen at our place. But, we had to start early in the season to break the breeding cycle.
Do you think it would help reduce volume for the rest of this year potentially though? Realistically it will probably be October before it’s cold enough that they die naturally.
Maybe? I would recommend checking out their website. They’ve got more info there about that kind of stuff.
fuck mosquitos.
they are the one group that is making my question my general “extinction is bad” stance.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure there is much you can do locally to reduce adults – ensuring that standing water is minimized is good for reducing the next batch, but that doesn’t help now…
I live in dry-ass Oakland, we haven’t had rain in literal months, and I still get a mosquito in my apartment a few times a month/week
The other problem I have is given some of the neighbors around me, I don’t doubt that there’s plenty of standing water or very damp areas that they could happily lifecycle through.
given what you’ve mentioned about your area before, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your neighbors were deliberately maintaining pockets of stagnant water just because someone asked them not to…
@brightersideoflife you could spray garlic infused water around. They don’t like that. Kinda like vampires.
Eliminate any hostas?
(Mosquitoes are the primary reason for my burning hatred of hostas in gardens–it’s not that I hate the hostas, it’s the fact that they make such a perfect place for the little bloodsucking to hide & multiply!🤬🤬🤬)
I have no hostas nor do any of my neighbors.
But I have giant mounds of coneflowers and other plants in the rainscaping, so lack of hostas doesn’t mean no place for the bloodsuckers.
I very rarely use herbs. I grow chives but they come back whether you eat them or not. I add tarragon to my chicken salad, but otherwise find most herbs too….. something. Not sure if I’m too British, genetically, or might actually be a super taster. But they yuck my food up.
I love basil and rosemary the most. Can’t pick between the two. But I lost my years old rosemary & lavender plants and my oregano & mint plants to this spring’s ice storm & the new seeds didn’t take. ☹️ Also I grow parsley & chives. I put lots of herbs & spices in just about everything I cook.
Yes, rosemary! I forgot that’s in the garden too. Honestly I forget half the shit we’re growing.
I forgot I also am growing dill
ever wake up with a random phrase of norwegian in your head?
i just did
du som hater gud
you who hate god
welp that suits me….maybe if i listen to the song ill feel sleepy again
okay…maybe thats not how that song works…..guess ill go chase garden slugs then
just so you know….slugs are why shoes got invented
some caveman way back when stepped on one and went O.o
ICKY!
and invented shoes right there and then
then he got mocked by his mates for the rest of his life (which wasnt very long) for always wrapping his feet in leather
genius is never apreciated when you are alive
welp instead of chasing slugs ive decided to watch jesus christ superstar again
shits awesome yo!
i kinda miss the days i could just enjoy the music and not think of course judas is black
/me grew up blissfully unaware of racism
ive learnt shit since then
TIL theres a song called please put me in a medically induced coma
its pretty good too
One year I grew herbs in those topsy turvy planters on the back porch, that was a good year, the basil loved those planters and it was really convenient to harvest and use them while cooking.
Lately though I just buy dried herbs from Penzeys. The bay leaves imported from Turkey are amazing.
Mint is an invasive weed in my garden, at least it smells nice when I run it over in the driveway!
Yes! Their Turkish bay leaves blew my mind the first few times I used them. One of the most obvious examples of when paying more for something than whatever the grocery story has is worth it!