[Herbalist] Garden Report

[Wyllow MacMuireadhaigh]

Garden report from hopeless optimist in Coastal Ansteorra:

The herb garden:
I killed the mint again. <sigh...>
The rosemary survived another summer, as did the creeping thyme (although it's not creeping very fast - I planted it under a rainspout site, poor thing).
New survivers: two sprigs of lavender (english, I think), a green pepper plant (2 peppers in 2 years, so far), and my lemon balm.  A root vegetable took over - it was an old rotting sweet potato or yam I stuck in the ground.  And the surprise banana tree is threatening my rooftop - but no bananas this year.

The vegetable/fruit garden:
Most of the vegetables never sprouted - even though they got the daily automatic watering, instead of the herb garden.  The berry bushes (I can't remember which type we chose) are scrawny, but alive.  The chives were doing well until a few weeks ago, when some critter mowed them down to an inch - it looks like the armadillo is back.

The noxious weed garden behind the fence:
A few blackberry "sprigs" are surviving - but they are not taking over my fence as I had hoped.  The honeysuckle was wonderful this year - we need to capture the scent!  I'm trying to decide what else I could toss back in the ditch - Texas weed laws are VERY lax... So far, I've been good and haven't planted anything I haven't found already growing wild nearby.  Maybe elderberry & gooseberry!

I tried an indoor herb garden this year:
Basil, sage, etc - they survived for a bit in the peat moss planter, then started growing trumpet-ear mushrooms.  I can't pull the peat moss because some non-herbal plants are still living in it.  Any suggestions?  (Are trumpet-ear mushrooms safe to eat?)

I'm thinking of starting my dyers garden this year - yarrow, madder, woad, weld, etc.  It's mulched long enough, and I've pulled the grass.

It's once again approaching planting season down here - we have 4 months of reasonable weather & rain before our *day* of frost in January.  Any recommendations on herbs to plant?  Which ones need a cold spell to mature?  Should I use seed or try to find plants?  (It's hard to convince sellers that you really do want plants in the Fall...)

Dreaming of Peppermint tea,
--H.L. Wyllow MacMuireadhaigh

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