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Dry and store, freeze, grow indoors, or what?

17 years ago

For the most part I have only grown chives and basil, this year I added lemon thyme, rosemary, and sage. I used some fresh during the summer, but I have so much still growing. What do you folks do and suggest should be done prior to the first frost next month.

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Comments (9)

Daisyduckworth
17 years ago
Harvest soon and freeze your herbs. Rosemary you might prefer to dry, but the others I think are best frozen.
rain1950
17 years ago
The chives will continue growing, potted on a windowsill. Rosemary normally doesn't lose it's leaves during winter so harvest some and freeze or dry it.
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flora_uk
17 years ago
Are these in pots or in the ground? in your zone the rosemary may not be winter hardy so either bring it in in a pot or cut plenty for drying in case you lose it to the weather. Sage may be hardy for you but dry a supply because it will get pretty scraggy in winter and the smell/flavour will not be as good as in summer. I would pot up some chives but leave some outside too. They will die down but reappear next year. The indoor ones will probably get weak because they will not have their winter rest and may fizzle out. Lemon thyme is less hardy than plain thyme so again I would hedge my bets and put some in a pot as well as cutting for drying or freezing. The basil will die in your winter so freez as much as you can. i have tried getting basil through the winter in a pot but the low light levels have killed it off. I now consider it as a seasonal treat and just grow it from seed each year to enjoy it when it's at its best.
desert_cat_ca
17 years ago
last fall when the weather was cooling down..i dug up my basil and put in a pot and brought indoor's and placed on a window sill..and i had a nice basil plant all winter long..in the spring i transplanted my basil in a whisky barrel and it's growing like crazy..i can't believe i had a living basil plant for a entire year..
flora_uk
17 years ago
That's interesting desert cat. I think your address might explain why your basil survived and mine won't. We get very low light levels in winter. Even in Summer basil doesn't really thrive in my garden, though some people with sheltered sunny aspects can get it to grow well outside. OP could give it a go and see how s/he does.
zuniform
17 years ago
I like to make pesto with the basil, then freeze it in ice cube trays. I also like the flavor of dried herbs for winter cooking; they are always much more flavorful than anything you could buy at the supermarket and not inferior to fresh, in my opinion. Besides, I lack freezer space to freeze everything. Definitely you should harvest soon to give plants a chance to recover before really cold weather.

All of your herbs except the chives could be dried. Probably all will survive winter except possibly rosemary and definitely basil, which is an annual. I am interested to know how long desert_cat's basil lived after being transplanted to the whiskey barrel; the plant must have been fooled into thinking it was a really long summer?
teryaki
17 years ago
Harvest all the basil and make pesto and freeze it in baggies, or blanch the leaves and freeze them in plastic bags.

Harvest a good bit of the sage and thyme and dry them, the plants shoud be back in the spring.

The chives will be back whether you want them or not. ;)

Bring the rosemary inside. Move it to a shady spot outside right now, so it can adjust to lower light levels before you have to bring it in. Make sure you put it in the sunniest window in your house, or under a grow light.
richdelmo
Original Author
17 years ago
Okay I didn't do anything with my one little rosemary it remained in the ground. Over the winter all the leaves eventually turned a silvery grey, kinda like me. Anyway some of the leaves are turning green but only a few. Is there any value in trying to save this plant or should I just compost it and start over.
ksrogers
17 years ago
Rosemary here, as been long gone from last springs plantings. I only see a few bare stems left out there as the cold weather killed off all of it. I figured it wouldn't survive here, as I always start new plants from seeds. It could be a variety that is more cold hardy, but you will not see any new growth until it gets a little warmer.

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