SC - Good Herbs to Have?

[Steve Hughes]

Dear Terri and Fiona,
Fiona wrote:
> Am fond of chives and rosemary myself, the first is pretty easy to
> grow, the second I don't have much luck with, needs to be watered
> well, likes to be spritzed it wound seem. Umm, and aphides tend to
> love it, but I don't know if you have them where you are anyway.
> 
> Fiona
> 
> 
Dear Fiona and Terri,
 Yes, I think chives would do well. Fiona, the reason your rosemary is
not doing well is because it is drought tolerant. I have grown herb
gardens in the San Juanquin Valley in California which desert! I have
seen rosemary growing there in planter boxes on a city street and was so
impressed with its ability to with stand dryness that I decided to try
it. Temple, Texas is not a desert, but we get very dry during the
summer. My sprigs of rosemary grew in my flower beds to about three feet
wide and were cut back a couple of times and used at SCA events. I got
tired of having to run out and cover them with plastic to keep them from
the rare freezes we get. I found that if I left the leaves moist that
they started a slow blight that would kill the entire plant slowly.
Spritzing rosemary is not a good idea for this reason, if it does not
dry before night fall, the blight may set in.
 A good herb to spritz is tarragon, it prefers to grow in cool moist
climate I am told. That is why in Texas we grow a mint that tastes like
tarragon and is very easy to grow. It is called Mexican Marigold mint
because it has a small marigold like flower. I have made flavored
vinegars and put the small yellow flower in the bottle for presentation.
It ain't period, but it taste like tarragon anyway! Can some one tell me
if tarragon is period? I don't have any period herbal's to check it at
the moment. I am guessing it is.
 More about pot plants. I read this gardening tip some where and have
found it absolutely true from my experience too. Match the size of the
herb start to the pot. If you put a small herb start in a large pot, it
does not take off well. So build up from a small pot to a large pot. 
Good luck with the balcony garden, Terri. My mom had one on a balcony in
New York City. She hauled in bricks and dirt and grew pot plants in
brick depth soil. Her volunteer tree grew to about five feet. Isn't
mother nature wonderful. The balcony had a brick wall which helped and a
souther exposure. Her neighbor complained because her watering water
leaked over to her balcony.
Pamela Hewitt, the Harper
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