[Sca-cooks] killing Rosemary

[SilverR0se at aol.com]

All my herb books say that herb need good drainage, so have you checked the 
drainage of your local soil? Rosemary likes a Mediterranian (sorry about the 
spelling - I'm at work and my dictionary isn't) climate and actually does quite 
well in rather poor soil, but the roots need to dry out between waterings.

I have an herb garden at my mom's in Northridge CA (that's the very 
northern-most bit of the city of Los Angeles). It was a 8x8 plot of dirt outside her 
kitchen door where an air conditioner once stood. We had to remove a concrete 
slab to clear it and found under that every single rock that had been removed 
from the rest of the property when the main landscaping was done. This was in 
addition to the heavy clay soil of the area.

But we dug it down about 2 feet, left the rocks, and added a load of planting 
mix and the herbs, for the most part, couldn't be happier. The rosemary is in 
the corner, very protected from winds and the occassional frost and we have 
to harvest it virgorously several times a year. The marjoram (my favorite!) and 
mint and tansy have seeded themselves all over Mom's yard, making a beautiful 
and tasty ground cover where ever there is not another plant growing. 

The basil never seems really happy, tho. We have to replant it almost every 
year.

The other that won't do well the are pinks. Yes, those little carnation 
thingies a/k/a gillyflowers. I'm dying to make gillyflower syrup but can't find 
enough fresh petals... :(

Renata