Planting herbs

[merci_me]

*SIGH* here we go again. Trying to plant herbs in a HOT climate where it's either monsoon or drought. Also, we have a dabbled to shady yard with an occasional patch of excruciating sun. All of this sitting on CLAY!!

Oh well, once again we are going to give it a go. But this time, we're going to plant here and there, rather than try a gorgeously laid out garden. After all, I'm not a sunbonnet Sue who goes out with her gloves, shears and basket to collect. I'm last minute Mary, who runs out the door while the pot is boiling and yanks something out.

Fortunately, we live within walking distance of a Whole Foods market, so I'm never dependent on homegrown, but the challenge is irresistible.

Mostly, what I need to know is some good tricks for drying and freezing herbs. The drying never fails, but I really would like to have fresh from the freezer herbs that don't "look" like frozen.

So far, I'm planning on garlic, chives, dill, Italian parsley, lemon grass, basil, mint, oregano, rosemary, tarragon and thyme. What am I forgetting?

Oh, and if anyone has had any success with a Houston-type climate let me know. We long ago gave up on growing our Ohio tomatoes down here.

Mary

[NMDemDist2]

1. be sure and post in the gardening group too, lots of TX gardeners

there too

[DawgHouse]

2. Holy Cow!

I didn't know there was a gardening group! Thanks ! :)

[merci_me]

3. Thanks

I didn't even notice there was a gardening group. I'm NOT a gardener and didn't think of it.

Maybe I'll get my husband to finally sign up and he can hit gardening and sci-fi. I think his interest in sci-fi is what leads him to believe he can grow things here in this heat. Me, I only want herbs to cook with.

I'm probably all excited about growing herbs, because I bought a quart container of basil Wednesday, at a Democratic club meeting and I've been using it on/in everything and Friday I have to make a dish for the West Houston Dem's monthly potluck and thinking, something with sprigs of rosemary, cause the rosemary last week was so pretty.

Oy, I need to be thinking laundry today and stop with the dreaming. But first, I need to check out the DU gardeners. Our climates and soils in Texas vary widely, but maybe there are some Gulf Coasters.

Thanks again!!

Mary

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Nice Rosemary = Focaccia

I know of no way to freeze herbs in a way that allows them to thaw and appear fresh. Before basil was available all year round, we used to freeze it by the leaf. Lay a leaf on wax paper, fold the paper, add another leaf, etc. When thawed, the taste was still there, but the leaves were blackish green (like they get when they freeze ... duh!).

Now, for the rosemary focaccia .......

Make any bread dough you like. Lots of ways in several current threads.

Let the dough do all but its final rise. When you would be ready for making the loaf and doing the final rise, but the bread into a low, flat pan. The size depends on how much you're making. You could also do several pans. Cake pans work well.

Before you're ready to pan your dough, pull from the stem and crush a generous amount of rosemary. A mortar and pestle works good for this, but you could also put it under saran wrap and pound it with a knife, a meat tenderizer, whatever. The object is to get a lot of well bruised rosemary, but not all chopped up. Add this to some olive oil. Mix some chopped garlic in this if you want. The garlic is completely optional. In the end, you want a rosemary/olive oil slurry. The oil will assume a decidedly green cast to it.

Generously oil the pan with fresh (not rosemary-ed) olive oil. Put the dough in and let it do the final rise. Punch it down (not hard ... but not too, too gentle, either) with just your fingertips. You want to make a whole bunch of small, finger sized depressions .... think the surface of a golf ball.

Pour over the rosemary/olive oil slurry. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt or kosher salt. Bake at 350 until golden.

[Mandate My Ass]

9. Rosemary fococcia is my favorite dinner

along with a nice salad and glass of wine. I didn't know about the bruising method. I'll definitely try that next time. Thx.

[The empressof all]

10. It's wonderful with some black olives in it

Becareful though----It's addictive

[NMDemDist2]

4. you are both very welcome n/t

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

6. Cilantro, maybe?

You either love it or hate it. I love it but have never been successful in growing it.

Maybe I'll do as AZ suggested & trot over to the gardening group. Thanks AZ!

best.

[Blue in a Red State]

7. Some other herbs you might want to try

Mexican Oregano (Poliomentha longiflora) does really well here in the Austin area. It's wonderful in pasta and mexican dishes, produces cascades of beautiful lavender flowers, attracts hummingbirds and is deer resistant.

I also like to grow Mexican Mint Marigold for its golden fall flowers. It has an anise-y tarragon flavor. Pineapple Sage is a great companion plant as it also blooms (red trumpet-shaped flowers) in autumn. There in Houston, it would provide migrating hummers with a final food source on their way out of the country. Makes a nice tea, too.

Salad Burnet is very hardy and has a great cucumber flavor. And, if you have the space, consider a bay laurel tree. They grow really fast and the flavor of fresh bay leaves is a whole different thing than the desicated things they sell in spice jars!

[Shakespeare]

8. There is hope for your clay soil!

Compost, compost, compost (or, in other words, mulch the crap out of your planting beds). It'll help break up the soil and load it up with much-needed nutrients. It'll also help the soil retain water on those REALLY hot Houston days.

Lavender, basil and sage all love the heat, and should do well where you are. The dill and maybe the parsley you'll need to give plenty of shade, but the others thrive on the sunshine.

If you like lamb, marjoram is a wonderful herb to pair with it, so grow some of that, too!

edited to add a p.s.: You should be able to grown GREAT tomatoes in Houston; see my previous comments regarding mulch. I've found that my tomato plants also love being topped off/mulched with coffee grounds (apart from those that I work into my compost). You might give that a try--what varieties have you tried before? In that climate (I used to live in College Station), I've grown brandywines and romas with great success.

[NMDemDist2]

11. hmmmm funny story about dill-- I bought some for a cold cucumber soup

and it came in HUGE shoots. I used what I needed one early spring and threw the rest out the back door of our new house (there was still construction cleanup going on so i didn't worry about tossing organics out there)

it got no water, massive amounts of sun (in the central valley of CA) temps up to 110 and thrived! not only thrived, the darn stuff took over!

the next year it took me hours and hours to get rid of the stuff and years later I heard it was still around LOL

don't think dill is a shy violet, it takes abuse and then takes over if you let it :)

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Oregano would also thrive in that climate ... hot and dry

But beware, like mint, it can be a real weed!

[babylonsister]

12. LOL! I read your first sentence and knew

you were a neighbor. We've lived here in Houston for awhile. I've had great luck with rosemary; the bushes got so big we had to eventually yank them as they took up too much room. I've tried lavender several times and it always died from the heat. Likewise with tomatoes by the summer, so neighbors around here get to planting as early as possible, like now. Basil flourishes as does lemon balm=weed! Good luck!