You don't have to worry about the spearmint. That stuff will grow like crazy. I know it does around here. The lavender might not do so well unless you have really good drainage. My cousin told me to put my lavender in a raised bed. I did and it's doing better than any I've ever tried to grow.

Well, this is the time of year when thyme plants start to struggle here because they hate the humidity+heat. I harvested a nice bounty from my in ground plants at the end of April, and now my plants are starting to look a bit ratty too. But I am trying an experiment. I love lemon thyme & it is hard to find. Only place I've found it is from one vendor at the yearly Leu Garden spring plant sale. I talked with him for a bit, and he recommended that I put my plant in the full sun. I bought a big plant, and it had enough spots on the side that had touched down and rooted that I was able to separate off about 6 baby plants. I planted the mother plant in full sun as the grower suggested. I planted the baby plants in a variety of locations, from a pot kept on my window sill at work to various levels of shade/sun and moisture in my yard. So far the score is: Mother plant in ground in full sun, mulched - in best shape & in bloom Baby plant in ground, in full sun, no mulch - second best looking Baby plants in both pots & ground in 50-80% shade with ample water - ok, but not as good as the ones in sun Baby plant in ground in 50% shade in very dry soil (from competing tree roots) - not doing as well, is drought stressed Baby plant in pot on office window sill - saddest of all, very spindly, because it isn't light enough. But alive. It will be interesting to see what the score is by the end of summer.

IME, dry, brown-looking woolly thyme is dead woolly thyme :-) This should be fully evergreen (or ever gray) and is the least moisture tolerant of any of the creeping thymes - less than very sharp drainage in the area and a persistent snow cover could very well make it difficult for this plant to survive. There still may be life in the root system, which is why you may see some signs of new, green growth but the brown portions will not green up again. You should cut back any dead looking brown portions. But I would consider replacing the woolly thyme with a more winter and wet tolerant species.

Not sure about "mature" kale not tasting as good. Brassicas are formally biennials, as they tend to go to seed in the second year. But I have collards that are going strong in their third year that taste just fine. When they try to flower, I just slice off the just-forming flower heads, and they're happy for another year. Old leaves may well not taste that good, as if in the spring you're harvesting leaves that came out in the fall. But if your plant is still producing new leaves, I would think those will be fine.