Thursday, May 15, 2014

Serendipity in the Herb Garden

We noticed that oregano, mints, thymes and chives would come back year after year in old garden plots and around old homesteads. These were always earlier than herbs we grew and planted. Why were these established plants "way ahead" of their more domesticated cousins. Could we establish our own "persistent" or perennial herb garden.


We observed that oregano comes back year after year in an old garden plot. Our goal is to plant better gourmet varieties and see which ones are perennial here in Minnesota. Look for northern grown varieties.

Mint volunteers in our herb garden. We are going to trial additional varieties to see which are hardy here. We found that chocolate, spearmint, peppermint, apple mint and pineapple mint are hardy.

Traditional sage comes back year after year. Plant other varieties of sage and see what is persistent.

Thymes that will persist through the a very severe Minnesota winter.

This last winter was an excellent test. We are watching to observe how things will recover after one of the worst winters in Minnesota history.

We will keep you posted.

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