Classic - Gourmet Herbs

[bab43]

I appreciate your telling me this Bobbie.  Two of the stalks are shorter, it's just the one basil plant that is a problem.  First thing tomorrow I'm going to take care of it!

[graycyn]

Your herb garden looks super, Marianne!

Love the "Be cruel to the basil." line, Bobbie! I will say, I wish now I'd planted my oregano and basil a little sooner than I did in my cilantro garden. The cilantro keeps growing into the lights and I'm harvesting it perhaps more than I should at this young age trying to keep the lamp down while the others catch up. So far, so good and it doesn't seem to be hurting it! Cilantro cruelty is quite tasty... hubby can verify.

I've also held the basil pod back on the new kitchen herb garden, though I won't hold it back as long as I did for the AG3 garden. Just want to give the rest of the herbs a head start.

I do love these herb gardens! Does anyone know what variety of basil the purple is? I'd like to get some seeds of that.

[bab43]

Thanks Cynthia. 

Does anyone know what variety of basil the purple is? I'd like to get some seeds of that.

I wish I knew - it just says Purple Basil.  I can find different ones when I do a search but none look exactly like the one in the AG.

Glad your cilantro's growing well - it sounds bountiful!  Mine outside is not going great so I'm going to try again inside.

[graycyn]

Yeah, I've been looking around and none of the purple basil seeds I've found have looked like the AG one. I worry a bit about chopping so frequently on the cilantro, but I also read somewhere online that frequent harvesting helps keep it from bolting. So maybe it's a good thing. Meanwhile, I'm rooting the basil and oregano on so I can raise that hood!

[bab43]

Update:  61 days

Since my last update over three weeks ago, I've been able to keep the garden on the second notch which has been a real improvement for the garden.  Thank you very much for the advice on pruning the basil Bobbie.   

Originally the basil was pruned to just above the third set of leaves.  After my last update I pruned at least one plant in each of the pods to just above the second set of leaves.  I've used a Q-Tip with 3% hydrogen peroxide on the bottom of one or both basil plants on three different occasions when I've seen stalks start to get a bit dark/black.



Although some of the plants are not as dense as I'd like, I think it's time to raise the hood up to the third notch.  There's no problem pruning the mint or the basil - they come right back.  The thyme seems to grow just fine even though it never gets close to the hood.  But at this point I can only keep one stalk growing for each dill plant and each parsley plant - otherwise they're into the hood.  The tips of the chives start to turn brown before they're two inches from the hood, but I've not figured out how the chives work anyway - they grow at different rates, so I'll just keep trimming them and trust that they'll turn out OK. 



All my mint has been going into mint tea.  Either in a pot with one regular orange pekoe bag or by itself.  Thank you for the tip Cynthia - there's been a few raves about the tea in our house!    The dill is the only herb I've not used.  It air dries very easily and I've been storing it in a glass container.  The other herbs - basil, thyme, chives and parsley have been used numerously - marinades, salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, pizza, omelettes - and have enhanced the flavour each time.  They seem to go well with a lot of things and get added to dishes as they're available, which isn't that often for the parsley and chives.

The EC is now running between 1.8 and 2.2, up a bit from recently when I was adding an AG growing nutrient at EC 1.7.

[kforrest]

I think that is a perfectly beautiful herb garden bab43!

Really pretty, great growing.

I'm also a big fan of the basil haircut...it needs it, loves it and will thank you with more and more!
   

[bab43]

Thanks Kelly!  I like what you've done so far with your basil experiment.  It's my first time growing it and I can see it grows so fast compared to the other plants - I think that's what you're testing out, can it be more controlled in the beginning but still be a productive plant.  Hope it's successful.

[cataractcow]

wow, your herbs are growing so well. hope mine work that well. 

[Bobbie]

Looks perfect!  It seems to be at the stage where you've got something to cook with every night.

[graycyn]

Yes, nice looking herb garden!

[bab43]

Thanks everyone!

Yes there are herbs to cook with constantly.  Because I'm a heavy harvester at times, I do have to give the garden a rest now and then.  I know the "no more than one-third" rule but get carried away just like I did with the salad garden.  This works out OK as long as a garden is mature - everything does grow back! 

[bab43]

Update:  69 days

A week ago I raised the hood to the third notch, so two up from the bottom one, because the parsley and dill both needed to grow in height in order to bush out more.  I reduced the harvesting to let the plants deal with the additional hood height, but am ready to start regular harvests again.  Monday is Canada's Thanksgiving, so we'll certainly be using the herb garden. 



I've recently been keeping the EC between 1.8 and 2.3, a bit higher than previous weeks, which is about one AG growing tablet per week.  The chives seem to grow a bit more with the higher range, but haven't really been able to figure out how to make these grow.

[kforrest]

Bab43, that is one of the prettiest herb gardens I've seen......nice work and happy harvesting!

[shane arthur]

I have to agree, it looks like one of the gardens in the catalog.  Just simply wonderful

[bab43]

Thank you both!  We love having this garden in our dining room. 

[bab43]

I took down this garden earlier this week based on continued signs of bug infestation.  The mint and thyme were already gone - when I shook the thyme little white bugs fell out and the mint leaves were getting brown marks on top.  The only way to get rid of them out of these plants would be spraying and then I wouldn't have been interested in using the produce.  The Italian basil leaves showed the most signs of thrip damage.  Leaves were distorted and some had rasping marks on top, not as severe as figure 10 on "http://www.hdc.org.uk/herbs/page.asp?id=7".  (Unfortunately I've started seeing these marks here and there on the mimulus leaves and the garden isn't even in the same room.)

In addition to the dill, the red basil was the only one still producing well, but one of these basil plants had also started developing deformed leaves so I didn't like to use it any more.

This garden will sit empty for a bit until the remainder of the AGs are finished.  All the potted plants have been gone for some time.  I have no idea how they got in, but the little thrip flies are small enough to get through screens or perhaps they came in on our clothes.  It's difficult not to go ahead and plant a new garden, but I want to be sure to get rid of the insects.

[Bobbie]

Bummer! It's got to be so hard to end a garden aread of time because of critters. 

[bab43]

Yes, I'm disappointed but I guess these things happen.  I think the final ones will need to come down too unfortunately.  Our cats go in and out constantly so I can only think that's what caused the problem.

My husband keeps telling me it's a learning experience...

[graycyn]

I just wanted to say I'm sorry to hear about this.

Insect pests are a problem you don't really expect with indoor gardens. I realized when I was still harvesting outdoor produce that I need to put a system in place for washing produce BEFORE I ever bring it inside. I was lucky I think, as I don't have a pest problem, but I remember after washing the outdoor lettuce, I saw a few flying things. I grabbed and got them and just hoped that I'd gotten them all. There were TONS of tiny winged insects in the wash water. I think I was really lucky that I did not get an infestation.

As you say, we learn as we go.

[bab43]

I'm glad your indoor plants escaped the problems.  We had lots outdoors as well, in the summer I'd see a couple now and then indoors, but the problem accelerated once it got cold outside.  Since posting, I discovered that the mesh size for screens needs to be very small to keep thrips outside "http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/00-021.htm#A".  I like to keep windows open for fresh air, so maybe I'll avoid that in my AG rooms.

Thanks for your feedback - it's encouraging to hear that a severe outdoors problem doesn't have to come indoors!