herb
Kitchen herbs
Thyme, sage, rosemary, mint, oregano, dill, parsley. Medicine cabinet and flavor.
Bland stored food is how people quit eating enough. Herbs fix that and treat a dozen small ailments.
- When to sow
- Perennials in April. Dill and cilantro every 3 weeks. Mint in a bottomless bucket or it owns the county.
- Spacing
- 12 in. Rosemary against a south foundation — it is borderline here and wants that wall.
- Days
- Cut as soon as they can spare a stem.
- Harvest
- Just as they start to flower, morning, after dew. Hang in paper bags.
- Store
- Dry, dark jars. Don’t crush until you use them.
- Save seed
- Dill and cilantro will do it for you. Sage and thyme from cuttings.
- Companions
- Everywhere. Sage near cabbage. Dill near onions (and swallowtails).
- Pests
- Almost none. Mint rust if it sits wet.
- Sage tea for a sore throat. Thyme steam for a winter cough. Peppermint for a bad stomach. This is comfort care, not a hospital.
- Parsley overwinters with a leaf mulch and bolts in May — let it, then resow.