Gardening Questions: Basil Cilantro and other good herbs

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pjmerritt Gilmer, TX (Zone 7b) September 7, 2009 06:23 PM	At the beginning of my first garden here in Texas I have killed and killed all the herbs I have tried to plant . Was it the heat here? Should I have better luck now?
Texasroses Marlin, TX September 7, 2009 07:12 PM	Pjmerritt, This has been a hard year to begin gardening, herbs or other plants. It's the drought that has gotten us. We're in 8B, Central Texas, and we've grown herbs for about 11 years. Herbs--they are one of the best things we can plant--beautiful, useful, and hardy. Biergaarten (spelling is questionable) sage, Greek and Italian oregano, winter savory, rosemary, garlic chives, and onion chives are plants you need, and plants that will do well even under less than ideal circumstances. Basil, parsley (I highly recommend the flat leaf Italian), and cilantro are annuals. The basil is a warm weather herb, doing well throughout our summers with a bit of extra watering. Cilantro and parsley are cool weather herbs that do well in the fall through most of the winter, and then again in spring until the hot weather hits. Gardening in Texas can be challenging, but we have two gardening seasons, so our chances of success are doubled!
pjmerritt Gilmer, TX (Zone 7b) September 7, 2009 08:30 PM	thank you my tomatoes planted in mid may are just now producing but taking forever to turn. Believe it or not I have watermelon too. No dill, basil, or even chives will grow out there. So do you think I might get some garlic and chives to grow now or should I just resort to a pot and takem in side?
Texasroses Marlin, TX September 7, 2009 09:49 PM	When we moved here to the farm in March, I spent two months preparing beds, getting compost (boughten, because there wasn't time to make our own) worked in, making sure the beds drained well. Herbs just hate wet feet! Do you have a bed dedicated to herbs? That is usually the easiest thing to do, since you don't want to fertilize most herbs (they respond to tough love) and have different growing requirements than vegetables and most flowers. Garlic is planted in the ground in the fall and harvested in the spring--May for us. Dill is also planted by seed in the fall and expect to see it come up in the spring. One planting will give you years of dill if you let a plant or two go to seed. Wait until spring and get starts of thyme, garlic chives, chives, oregano, rosemary, winter savory, marjoram, sage and mints. Plant them directly in the ground, except for the mints, which are better kept in pots since they are very, very invasive. To answer your question--garlic is not a pot plant. It needs to be in the ground. If you want to get some chives to put in a pot for your windowsill now, go ahead. The chives will probably make it and you'll have fresh chives throughout the winter. You can start cilantro and parsley from seed in January or February, and set them out in the ground in late April . These are cool weather herbs and will die out by July. Basil, on the other hand, loves heat, and when started inside in February is ready to go into the ground in May, where it will happily thrive until the first frost.
pjmerritt Gilmer, TX (Zone 7b) September 8, 2009 02:26 AM	Thank you, Is lettuce good choice for now, I know green like collards are, what else might be good for a winter garden. i really appriciate you info :)
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 8, 2009 02:36 AM	Cabbage, brocolli, kale, mustard, turnips, rutabagas, califlower, radishs, squash should have time to make. Find a corner and plant your garlic and forget about it. It is a great plant to take over a corner your not using.
pjmerritt Gilmer, TX (Zone 7b) September 8, 2009 01:24 PM	Thanks Jim, I know that greens grow in crappy dirt, will the cabbage and califlower or should I spend a little to improve the sand I have. I have already mixed in 100 lbs of walmarts cheap stuff with 50 lbs of the really good stuff and thats how I the watermelons to finally grow. And the squash did pretty good. I have 2 other beds,1 that has tomatoes that took until now to produce. (waiting for em to go red lol), should I do the same to the one that's empty or do ya'll have a cheaper suggestion. I am trying to composed but I ain't lived here long enough. :( oh my beds or raised a little and they are 10' x 2' (so narrow due to the chain link fence that the watermelons are growing up lol) I got little harnesses made of slip material to hold them up? wish I had a camera to show I've gotting a lot of laughs from nieghbors. Again thanks for any suggestion.
Texasroses Marlin, TX September 8, 2009 03:11 PM	PJ, Follow Jim's list of fall garden plants--it is comprehensive and doable! I like to mix my lettuces--Black Seeded Simpson, Ruby and Oakleaf are all easy, tasty and pretty to boot! About your empty bed--if it is empty, get some garden soil, add a bag or two of composted steer manure and a bag of compost (not as good as the stuff you'll be making, but available now.) If it is simply empty of plants and has sandy soil in it, dump a couple of bags of the manure in. Don't worry about over-manuring. Composted manure is very gentle, the plants use only what is needed, and it won't burn your crops. I use it to side-dress growing vegetable crops and along the rows when I plant onion slips or transplants like broccoli. Of course, if it weren't for the three heifers in the field next to us, I might not be so generous with the composted manure! If you really want to die of envy, ask Jim to let you see photos of his place. It is stunning!
pjmerritt Gilmer, TX (Zone 7b) September 8, 2009 04:00 PM	Thanks Texasroses, what about rabbit poop I can it free? Hey Jim what about them pics you got'em posted some where? Love to see'em. gonna do the greens for sure gonna try some califlower and cabbage too. And I gotta corner for garlic. Thank ya'll some much!!! Going to the feed store to get some starters for cabbage and califlower.. Oh, stupidity ? can you kale I thought it was for decorations on the salad bars?
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 8, 2009 04:17 PM	D-mail me your email address. The pics are on Kodak Share Gallery and I'll have to send you an invitation. You can eat Kale, it is quite good. Google it and there will be receipes. Rabbit poop is really good, so I've heard. Maybe Texasroses can tell you how hot it is, I've never used it. If you have a compost pile started, you need to get some and add it to that as well.
pjmerritt Gilmer, TX (Zone 7b) September 8, 2009 07:12 PM	Texasroses I have to agree, He has a beautiful place. Thank ya'll
Texasroses Marlin, TX September 9, 2009 12:26 AM	PJ, Rabbit poop is great, but it needs to be composted first, as does any manure. The ammonia in any fresh manure can burn plants. Composting it lets it help out the compost pile while losing its "heat". Aren't you impressed with Jim's place? I sure am! Any advice Jim offers, take. He obviously knows what he's doing.
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 9, 2009 02:02 AM	Dawgone, Texas, your making my head swell. I don't have enough hair to cover what I already had.

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