May 20 2004
Any Botanists in the House?
Jenny and I need help figuring out what kind of plants we have in our backyard because it’s time to seperate the weeds from wallflowers!
We’re putting out the call for help and seeing if anyone can help us identify some of the plants shown here: http://five2one.org/media/gallery/garden_mystery.
We think we’ve got some of them figured out, but any help is appreciated!
When I downloaded the pictures, I named them what I think they look like…but I realize that these are nowhere close to what they probably are. Also, if anyone has any suggestions for how/when to harvest herbs, we’d love to hear!
Hey Jen,
I am a big fan of mint. It spreads like a weed, and you can harvest it pretty much as long as it grows. It should be able to grow as long as it gets water, and it is warm enough. Sunlight is good, but it shouldn’t get sun all day long.
We keep ours on the western side of a wall so that it gets the evening sun when it is cooler, and not the scorching sun in the morning and noon. Mind you, this is Palestine though and you probably get let heat.
If you have a lot you should take care to dry the leaves. They last a long time, which is useful when the mint freezes in the winter.
Lay out the leaves on wax paper on some trays, and lay them where its sunny. Then you can shake them off into a light cloth bag.
Thanks for the suggestions regarding the mint. I just transplanted some spearmint 2 weekends ago and have already noticed some growth! I overheard someone at the garden store say that mint spreads quickly and can overtake other plants. With that in mind, I think that I have given it quite a bit of space. I can’t wait to harvest it. Thanks for the harveting hints. Do you do other types of herbs as well?
We used to pick thyme. The fuzzy leaves go well with salad when green, otherwise you dry the leaves and make a dipping mix with salt, some other spices, sesame seeds.