My Herbs are Growing out of control I can't eat fast enough.

[Gary350]

My herbs are growing so fast I can't eat them fast enough. The Savory is 3 ft tall and trying to turn to seed. I have trimmed it several times now it looks like a 3 ft bush. Yesterday I had to trim it again I cut about 8" off of each branch so I have a pretty good pile of fresh Savory laying in a paper plate. WOW it smells so good. I decided to see if it would make good Ice Tea and WOW is it good. This is the best tea I have ever had so I wanted to share it with everyone. Put 1 quart of water in a pan heat to 140 degrees F not too hot it dissolves the tannins in the tea and makes it bitter. I use the sizzers to cut short 1/8" of Savory probably 3 tablespoons full. I put in a large family size Lipton tea bag and let it set from 7 am to 12 noon. I stired in 4 heaping large tablespoons of DARK BROWN sugar and poured it over ice. This is the best tea I have every had.

My Parsley 4 ft tall and growing like crazy too. I have been trimming it too and it has about 100 tops all trying to go to seed too so I keep trimming it. We have been putting Parsley on everything, Fish, Potato Salad, stir fly, vegatables, everything. Wow fresh Parsley is 1000 times better than dry grocery store parsley.

The Oregano is getting large too. Home made pizza is really great. Pizza recipe on the Martha White bread package is good. Fresh Oregano is good on everything, pizza, spagetti, sauce, mexican, even chineese.

I made some excellent pesto with basil and walnuts. That was so good too it was unreal. I never had this before. I will have it again.

I made some pico de gallo sauce with my Cilantro. Onion, tomato, cilantro, salt, pepper, vinegar, chili pepper, water, lemon. I can eat this like salad. It is good as a side dish with anything.

Last year I dried my herbs but they were not much better than dry grocery store herbs. This year I am going to experement and make extracts in small jars. Salt, Sugar, Vinegar, Alcohol are all preservatives.

Savory, Basil and Parsley preservatived in salt water or vinegar will be good for soup and other foods.

Savory, Parsley and Hysops preservatived in Sugar water will be good for herb tea.

All the herbs preservatived in Alcohol should be good for just about anything.

Many years ago I froze herbs that works pretty well for a while but after several months the herbs lost their flavor.

[new_2_gardening]

Hi I am new to gardening (sort of) as this will be my first year with my own backyard garden I am so excited to read your story as I LOVE herbs, and herbs of all kinds.

What zone are you in? Did you sow direct outside or start from seed inside? I had no luck with starting my thyme indoors at all. I read that I was probably over watering.

Could you tell me what herbs I could possibly do in containers? Say 1 gallon pot size? I have run out of room in my garden, unless I can fit something in with my strawberries?

[Gary350]

Someone else will have to tell you about planting Herbs in pots, I don't plant in pots.

I bought plants at the Garden Center last summer. My soil it not very good but the herbs do great here. My soil is lime stone gravel, sand, clay, and it had some compost in it once several years ago. This soil spot is so dry most weeds and grass do not grow well here but the herbs do fine. This year I planted Cilantro and Basil from seed all the other plants came back on their own.

[Susan W]

new-2, please tell us more about your situation (location, garden, deck pots etc). I can help walk you through some of this. I figure in gardening no one an expert, but experience, coaching and more than that trial and error. I am an expert on that!

[Susan W]

Gary, I am jealous of your savory. I have haunted the garden centers, then the seed packets and Cannot find savory! Mine faded away, and am at a loss this year. Shucks!

[rainbowgardener]

I love pesto! So easy, blend up basil, some kind of nuts, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese, doesn't have to be cooked and it's amazing! Every fall when it is starting to get to chilly for the basil, I pull all the plants and process them into pesto and freeze dinner servings of it in baggies. In the depth of winter, pull out a baggie and warm it up in hot (not boiling) water and it is like eating summer sunshine!

New2gardening - you are probably right about over watering. Most herbs are drought tolerant and definitely need good drainage and not too much water. What can you grow in a small container -- parsley, basil, sage, lavender, oregano, mint, thyme, and others. (Not all of the above, pick one. It would be ONE PLANT for most of these) But it would need plenty of sun.