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Grow herbs in containers all year long

grow herbs in containersLast month I wrote about herb-growing seasons for the outdoor garden. If you’re not a gardener or you don’t have a garden, growing herbs in containers is the perfect way to perk up some pasta for dinner.

A few pretty pots on the porch or on your windowsills inside the house can allow you to enjoy herbs, even out of season.

Most herbs love the sun and require at least three to four hours a day, so make sure you place them where they will get a lot of direct sunlight. Prune and pinch off blooms just as you would outside in the garden to prolong the life of your herbs.

When growing herbs in pots, it’s important to remember to use containers with good drainage and a lightweight potting soil. Choose a mix designed specifically for pots that will help the soil to drain properly. If your pretty pottery doesn’t have a drainage hole, either add one yourself or plant the herb in a plastic pot with holes and then place it inside the pottery. Just putting rocks in the bottom of a pot with no drainage hole won’t suffice. Small pots will dry out faster and require frequent or even daily watering.

Trendy, eye-catching containers are all the rage these days, everything from cowboy boots to teapots, depending on your taste. Be creative about your container herb garden and add an element of style to your tasty space.

Last month, I listed some interesting herbs from A to C. Below is a list of herbs from the middle part of the alphabet, along with some of their characteristics.

  • Dill — Known primarily for its use in pickling and vinegars and fish dishes, dill is grown for its leaves and its seeds like cilantro. It has a distinct flavor. Dill prefers cool weather and can be direct seeded into the soil or purchased at nurseries as transplants. Because it has a very long tap root, it can tolerate our long dry spells with only average watering. Dill is suited to container gardening but might need to be staked because it gets tall.
  • Lavender — A perennial and an attractive landscape ornamental plant, there are seemingly endless varieties of lavender. Grown in Mediterranean climates, it sometimes struggles with the heat of our summers. Like rosemary, it should dry out between watering and should not be allowed to have wet roots.  Common in French cooking and an ingredient in the herb mix Herbes de Provence, it lends a sweet, aromatic flavor. It’s widely used in sachets, soaps and perfumes.
  • Lemongrass — It comes in several varieties and can grow 2 feet to 5 feet tall. It likes heat and humidity and full to part sun; it is not cold-tolerant and should be mulched or covered in mild freezes.

Indigenous to Asia and India, lemongrass is frequently used in teas and in cooking. The leaves are harvested down to the ground, using the outer stalks first when they are at least ½-inch thick. Remove hardest outer leaves and slice like scallions. You also can bang on the stalk with a heavy knife handle or spoon to bruise it and put a large stalk into soup to infuse the flavor and remove before serving. Chopped pieces can be placed in a plastic bag and frozen for future use. Lemongrass repels insects and is used in pesticides.

By |2017-11-29T23:27:15-06:00September 7th, 2012|Articles|1 Comment
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Intensify your culinary adventure

Aromatic plants add flavor, can be grown year-round in our temperate climate

culinary adventuresImagine eating spaghetti sauce cooked without basil, oregano, parsley or bay leaf. Or pico de gallo without cilantro. It just wouldn’t be the same.

Herbs bring the “BAM” to our culinary adventures, and the intensity and flavor of fresh herbs can’t be matched. Herbs are also playing a key role as health conscious cooks look to their flavors to replace salt and reduce the amount of sodium in today’s recipes.

People often wonder about the difference between herbs and spices, which is sometimes blurred. Herbs come from aromatic plants and are usually harvested from the plant leaves, though there are exceptions. Spices often come from more tropical zones and can come from the seeds, roots, berries or flowers of plants.

Our temperate climate allows us to grow herbs outside almost year-round in Central Texas, and of course they can be grown inside as well. Most herbs are easy to start from seed but many can also be purchased from local nurseries to grocery stores as starter plants to give you a jump on the process.

Even non-gardeners frequently have common herbs like parsley, basil, cilantro, rosemary and chives sprouting up in the corner of a bed or pots in the kitchen. But there are so many more herbs you can grow and experiment with in your cooking.

For herb-growing success, make sure you learn about the needs of the herbs you plant so that they get the proper amount of sunlight and water. Plant them in a good grower’s mix soil and keep them pruned. Cut the flowers off your herbs when they first appear because flowering means that they will soon form seeds and die. By pruning, you can continue to harvest from a thriving plant.

Like vegetables, herbs have preferred growing seasons. For example, cilantro likes cool weather and will bolt, or flower in the heat, bringing it to the end of its life. Sadly, the cool cilantro season doesn’t coincide with the hot tomato and jalapeno season, so my cilantro is long gone by the time the rest of the pico de gallo ingredients in my garden are ready. So, you can have fresh cilantro with your store-bought tomatoes before summer arrives and fresh tomatoes with store-bought cilantro late in the heat of summer.

Some herbs that like cooler weather and are good choices for a fall garden include rosemary, sage, chives, parsley, oregano, marjoram and thyme. They may be slightly damaged in a frost or can be covered, but can usually still be harvested until a freeze. If a hard freeze damages them, they may return the following spring. Using straw cover or mulch will help protect them from cold temperatures.

Below is a partial list of herbs and their characteristics. Next week – more interesting herbs to grow in Central Texas.

Bay Laurel
This small tree’s stiff leaves are used in many savory soups and stews that are cooked for long periods of time. Whole leaves are used, but are very sharp and must be removed before serving. Bay Laurel will die in a hard freeze, so it makes an excellent container plant. As a bonus, bay leaves and sprays can be used to create fragrant wreaths to hang in the kitchen or on your front door.

Basil
One of the most popular herbs, basil dresses up Italian and Thai dishes. Experiment with several different varieties including Genovese, Opal, Siam Queen or Spicy Globe. As with most herbs, add leaves to dishes late in cooking to coax the most flavor from them. Basil is very sensitive to cold, so cover it in the event of a light frost or bring it indoors.

Calendula
Commonly called “Pot Marigold,” it is not related to the common marigold. However, it does have bright blooms and can easily be planted in a perennial bed to add color with your perennials. Be sure to cut of the blooms as they die to encourage full, continued blooming. The petals can be used in recipes for enhancing many things from herb butter to wine. It is also a common herbal medicinal remedy known for its immune-enhancing and anti-fungal properties and can be used to treat topical skin problems. It is typically an annual.

Chamomile
There are many different varieties and names for chamomile. German chamomile is an annual and Roman or English chamomile is a perennial. Its blooms have a sweet, apple-like scent and are most often used to brew herbal tea. In Europe, chamomile is prized for its proven medicinal properties and is used to treat inflammation, mouth irritations and respiratory problems. It is commonly used to relieve intestinal spasms and ulcers and as a sleep aid.

Chives
Garlic and onion chives are staples for many dishes from herb butters to baked potatoes, eggs, soups, and stews. They are also commonly used to make flavored vinegar. Chives are perennial in the garden. They are very hardy and can withstand frost through the winter. The pretty little lavender flowers can be used in salad and as garnish. Cut chives low the ground to encourage new growth.

Cilantro/Coriander
A mainstay in Mexican food, it’s almost impossible to find a Tex-Mex dish that doesn’t include cilantro. A cool season plant, it’s easy to grow, but, once we have a few hot days in the spring, the plant will bolt, bloom and go to seed. The flowers will appear and the leaves will become fringe-like. If the plant flowers and goes to seed, the ripe seeds, called coriander, can be harvested for use as well. Whole or ground coriander is a common spice in Indian and Mediterranean recipes. Wayward fallen seeds will usually germinate and come back the next season, though maybe not exactly where you want them to be.

By |2020-04-27T19:58:45-05:00August 24th, 2012|Articles, vegetable garden|0 Comments
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Seeds for heirloom tomatoes can be gathered and saved or bought

You’ve seen them lurking in the produce department of the grocery store – those gnarly, cat-faced or cracked tomatoes with deep folds in strange shapes, colors and sizes.  They almost seem to watch you as you head toward the cucumbers and peppers.  Maybe you even buy them and eat them, but do you know what the term “heirloom” tomato really means?

Many people think heirloom tomatoes are a specific kind of tomato, but heirloom refers to any fruit or vegetable seed that has been saved, grown and passed down by gardeners for generations.

Our ancestors chose to save these tomatoes because of their delicious taste, meaty texture, juiciness or exceptional production in their own gardens.  They wanted to share these wonderful cultivars with friends and family because they were just so darn good.

The majority of tomatoes sold in grocery stores today are hybrid tomatoes.  (Not to be confused with genetically modified tomatoes.) Plant breeders cross different plants to create a new one with the best features of both parent plants. They are bred to produce specific traits, like disease resistance or thick skins to help them withstand mass shipping. That’s how we get perfectly round, bright red tomatoes that last longer on your kitchen counter.  But sometimes those traits come at the expense of the taste.

It takes a long time for hybrid plants to stabilize so that they can actually retain those characteristics, and many of today’s hybrid seeds are relatively new.  That explains why seeds from these hybrids can’t produce a mirror image of the parent plants.  So, if you plant an Better Boy hybrid tomato plant this year and then later try to plant seeds from those tomatoes, the seeds will not produce tomatoes that are the same as your original plant because the traits will revert.

Heirloom fruit and vegetable seeds (not just tomato seeds) must be open pollinated to produce plants that are just like the parent plant.  Open pollinated vegetable varieties reproduce by either:

  • cross-pollination — between two plants by insects, wind or water, or
  • self-pollination — when male and female parts are contained on the same plant.

Plants like tomatoes, beans and peas are self-pollinating.  These are the easiest for home gardeners to save and pass down for generations.

Carrots, squash and corn are cross-pollinating, so they have to be kept separate in the garden to keep the varieties true to the parent.

Experts disagree about how old an heirloom has to be to be considered a true heirloom.  The introduction of the first hybrids in 1951 muddied the waters a bit.  Varieties can be traced back to old European, Native American, Asian or African crops, some traceable by historic record back to 400 years or more.

Today, you can grow heirloom vegetables in your garden and save or pass along the seeds.  It’s easy – just buy and plant heirloom seeds or plants from your local nursery.  Make sure they are identified as heirloom varieties.

When the tomatoes are ripe, chop or mash one or two of them in a jar. Then fill the rest of the jar with water and shake it up daily for a week to allow the seeds to separate from the pulp and fall to the bottom of the jar.  (Leaving them in the water to ferment helps to kill diseases and germination-inhibiting substances.)

Then rinse and dry the seeds – spread them on a ceramic plate to dry because they will stick to paper towels or wax paper or most other surfaces.  Put the plate in a cool, dry spot for a week or two and make sure the seeds are fully dried before placing them in a glass jar for storage.  Any residual moisture will lead to mold and mildew.  Following these steps will help ensure that they are viable when you plant them.

Some heirloom tomato varieties that will grow well in Central Texas include:

  • Purple Cherokee
  • Black Krim
  • San Marzano
  • Brandywine
  • Yellow Pear

And the best thing about growing delicious heirloom tomatoes here in Central Texas is that we have two distinct growing seasons, enabling us to enjoy them even longer.

By |2017-11-29T23:27:16-06:00May 31st, 2012|Articles|0 Comments
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Create a tropical oasis right here in Texas

Between last year’s excessive drought and our increasingly warmer temperatures, it’s easy to feel discouraged about your landscape.  Knowing these spring rains aren’t likely to last, many gardeners are dreading their first water bill, and think their only choice is to switch to a desert-style garden filled with rocks and cacti.

Not so.

Do you find yourself wishing for a lush, green garden in the middle of our hot summers?  Will the hot temperatures have you longing for a tropical paradise – someplace with bold, exotic plants and hot colors?  If you can’t afford to fly off to an island, you can create a tropical-looking garden right here in Central Texas using native or adapted drought-tolerant plants.

True tropical plants are wild plants from the equatorial areas bordered by the Tropic of Cancer to the north and the Tropic of Capricorn to the south.  Inside this swath around the center of the earth, tropical plants live in both cool upland environments, and in hot, steamy lowlands.

You might not be able to plant many of the same plants, but you can improvise, using similar shapes, textures and color combinations to capture the illusion of paradise.

While the plants you use play a significant role in defining the style of your landscape, there are many other design elements used to help create specific garden types.  Color, texture, form, line and scale – the five elements of landscape design – all play a role in crafting your garden.  How you place and prune your plants is also a factor affecting the end result.

Line

Soft, curved lines provide drama and expression in the garden and lend themselves to a tropical design more than straight lines when used in borders and paths.  They are much more informal and natural.

Form

The natural shape of plants is the primary determinant of whether a landscape is formal or informal.  Tropical plants commonly have large, broad leaves and lush foliage that is very naturalistic – sprawling or flowing like palms – and rarely pruned into any sort of predetermined shape.

Texture

This is how coarse or fine the surface of a plant feels and looks.  Plants with coarse texture have larger, irregular leaves, thick veins or rough bark like agaves, philodendron or leather leaf mahonia.  Fine-textured plants have thin, strappy leaves like grasses or vines.  Most tropical gardens include medium to coarse-textured plants with mid-sized leaves and smooth shapes like banana trees, cordylines, agaves or cannas.

Scale

Scale refers to the relative size of plants and other garden elements to the house or patio or the property as a whole.  Tropical gardens generally use a larger scale than other garden styles.  The plants are bigger and bolder and more plants are grouped closely together for a dramatic feel.  The goal is to create a jungle-like effect of dense plantings with many vertical layers. Enormous plants with gigantic leaves also bring a sense of fun into the garden with their almost-absurd scale.

Color

The most powerful design element in establishing a tropical feel is color.  Bright, hot colors with great contrast work best.  Try pairing colors on opposite sides of the color wheel like purple and yellow or burgundy and lime green.  In tropical gardens, foliage is usually the star player year-round.  Dramatic variegated foliage with contrasting stripes and bands of color often command your attention before the blooms.

Your hardscape and garden decor can also impart a tropical style – with hot colored cushions, bamboo or rattan furniture, bright nylon outdoor rugs and even a water feature – you can imagine yourself on that island far away.

Getting a tropical look with drought tolerant plants

There are many native and adapted plants that will tolerate our harsh Central Texas summers and still give you the feel of a lush, tropical garden.

For example, native palms and hibiscus like Moy Grande or Texas Star are varieties that will do well in our heat but still look and feel like steamy, tropic-loving varieties.

  • variegated ginger
  • esperanza
  • sago palms
  • agapanthus
  • bougainvillea
  • elephant ears
  • coleus
  • sabal minor or palmetto palm
  • bananas
  • fatsia
  • cordyline
  • philodendrun
  • fern
  • croton
  • agaves
  • Spanish dagger
  • plumeria
  • duranta
  • potato vine
  • crinum lily
  • variegated yucca
  • shrimp plant
  • amaranth
  • bamboo (clumping to prevent spreading)
  • purple heart
  • bamboo muhly
  • castor bean
  • persian shield
Containers

Containers can also provide spots of hot, tropical color on your patio with dramatic color combinations.  Tall plants like variegated dracena or cannas make great thrillers and could be combined with coleus for the middle layer of fillers, followed by trailing neon-green potato vine for the spiller.  Several pots with vibrant tropical combinations could easily transform your entire patio. 

So, try some hot color combos with bold plants this summer and let yourself drift away to a tropical garden paradise.

By |2017-11-29T23:27:17-06:00April 7th, 2012|Articles|0 Comments
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Keeping critters, even family pets, out of garden is a challenge

Tanner, Diana Kirby’s dog, liked to eat tomatoes, fresh from the garden. A wire fence can keep dogs out.

Gardening can be inspirational and fun. Gardening also can be challenging.

With the weather, the pests, the diseases, sometimes gardeners get frustrated. And then there are the animals.

There are wild animals — those whose habitat we’ve invaded and who try to continue to share that space with us. And there are domestic animals — furry family, like cats and dogs — that we’ve actually invited into our gardens. Tomato-eating, bulb-digging, plant-destroying animals.

How can you deal with animals messing (sometimes literally) in your garden? Let’s start with the tame ones.

Dogs

Dogs like to dig. It’s what they do. My dog, Dakota, is particularly fond of bulbs and grubs.

The most obvious way to keep dogs out of your plants is a barrier. Different kinds of small fencing actually can be attractive and not very noticeable, like thin wire fences that fold up and allow you to adjust them to the shape of your bed and stick the wire in the ground along the border. Chicken wire provides for a temporary fix until the dog loses interest. These small fences usually are sufficient to keep dogs from lying down in or snooping around your beds.

For vegetable gardens, more substantial fencing might be needed — after all, food is a powerful enticement. You also can try bird netting in front of or over delicate plants.

Many pet repellents on the market are safe for both dogs and plants. However, cayenne pepper isn’t recommended because it can get in your pet’s eyes.

You also can set aside a specific area in which your pet is allowed to dig. Fill the area in with half sand and half mulch. With some dog toys and a little time spent playing with your pet in that area — doing a little digging yourself — your dog might shift his focus.

Burying some chicken wire under the mulch in your beds also can be a deterrent because dogs and cats won’t like touching it with their paws.

Most dogs like to run along their fence line, and no amount of planting there will deter them. Accepting that behavior will make your life so much easier. Think of that as a permanent garden “condition” and either plant well in front of the space to hide it, or plan a pretty path that both you and the dogs can enjoy.

Dogs also might be less likely to pace and dig around a solid fence if you create cutouts so they can easily look out and see passers-by, instead of being agitated.

Cats

Cats like to use the garden to do their business. You can encourage them to remain in a specific area if you plant some catnip or catmint and provide them with a natural kitty litter area nearby. Keep it clean and they’ll have less reason to go elsewhere in your garden.

In areas where cats like to explore, keep your plants close together. Pets like to have room to roam around.

Place twigs or semi-prickly stems around your plants. You want to make it uncomfortable for the animal to walk on, but not harmful. Don’t use anything with actual thorns that might get lodged in their paws.

Cats generally do not like the scent of citrus. To see if it’s true for your cat, offer him a piece of orange. If your cat runs, you can then put orange and lemon peels in your beds as a deterrent. You also can plant things that have a natural animal repellent scent, like citronella or scented geranium.

Motion-sensor sprinkler heads also can successfully keep dogs, cats and wildlife out of the garden.

By |2017-11-29T23:27:19-06:00February 12th, 2012|Articles|0 Comments
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Austin’s temperate climate yields year-round vegetables

It’s hard to believe that we can still plant a last round of winter vegetables right now.

But instead of protecting our vegetables from freezes like we would in a ‘normal’ winter, we might be shading them from the hot sun.  While vegetables like chard, baby beets or newly sown carrots can be susceptible to a strong frost; lettuce and sweet peas can wilt or bolt with too much heat.

The unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having has confused both plants and people alike.

But then, that’s what gardening is all about, isn’t it?

Second-guessing Mother Nature.

For the next few weeks, (we assume that winter will eventually make another appearance) there is a window of planting time left for some more wonderful winter vegetables.

Now is the time to plant seeds and transplants of these vegetables:

  • Onion sets (the width of a pencil or smaller)
  • Shallots
  • Cabbage transplants
  • Cauliflower transplants
  • Turnips
  • Broccoli transplants
  • Swiss chard
  • Collard transplants
  • Beets
  • Spinach
  • Lettuce
  • Potatoes
  • Asparagus crowns
  • Kale transplants
  • Leek transplants
  • Radishes
  • Cool season English peas

In addition to late winter vegetables, now is also a good time to plant strawberries, bare-root fruit trees, berries and grapes.  For more specific information on planting fruits and berries, check with your local independent nursery.

Now is also prime time to plant cool-season herbs like chives, cilantro, parsley, dill and fennel.  Watch for cold weather, though, dill and fennel will need to be covered if it freezes. 

To succeed with your vegetable planting there are different strategies for growing different kinds of seeds.  Seed packets have specific information for planting – be sure to follow the directions for how deep and how far apart to plant the seeds.  But there are some other planting and growing tips you might not find on the back of the envelope.

Lettuce and spinach seeds should be planted gently and should not be planted deeply.  They need light to germinate, so sprinkle them and keep them misted daily until they sprout.  Soak beans, peas and carrots overnight to help them get started.  This helps speed up the growing process

On particularly warm days, consider setting up a little shade cloth to help keep your lettuce and greens from bolting. If you don’t have shade cloth, something as simple as an umbrella set on its side can help give them some cover from the warm afternoon sun.  And be sure to keep the lettuce seeds moist during the approximately 10-day germination period.

English peas will need a trellis to climb.  If planted now, peas should produce by early March.

With our clay and caliche soils, it’s best to loosen the soil to about a foot deep before planting carrot seeds.  The seeds should only be planted about 1/8 to ¼ inch deep, but this will prevent you from harvesting stunted or deformed carrots because they couldn’t force their way down through the hard soil.

Beets produce seed clusters that contain several seeds rather than seeds that produce one plant. When the seedlings come up, thin them to one plant per group for the largest beets. You can also eat the micro greens that you thinned out.

Once any seedlings appear, you do have to thin them out.  I know, they’ve come up, they’re alive, why not leave them all there to grow?  It’s more to eat, right?  Well, no. (It’s painful for me to thin, too.  Live plants are, after all, live plants.)  But, if you thin them out, you give the remaining seedlings room to grow more vigorously and you don’t crowd their roots or make them fight for water or nutrients.

For many plants, like lettuce, broccoli and cabbage, stagger your planting time by putting in a few plants each week for the next 3 weeks so your vegetables aren’t all ready to eat at once.

While we enjoyed a little rain to end 2011, it’s been dry again since the first of the year.  Climatologists are continuing to forecast to warmer and drier than average weather into the summer, so don’t forget to water your vegetable garden regularly to keep tender new plants growing and strong.

Growing your own vegetables is fun and rewarding.  There is something energizing about being outside in the sunshine, harvesting your vegetables and then enjoying a fresh, tasty dinner.  And luckily, Central Texas gardeners can enjoy the pleasures of vegetable gardening year round.

By |2017-11-29T23:27:19-06:00January 2nd, 2012|Articles|0 Comments
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