first time herb garden

[JRinPA]

So I did more herbs besides basil and fennel this year.
Rosemary
Marjoram
Parsley
Cilantro
Dill
Sage
Thyme and Oregano, transplanted up from the rose bed to their own pots.

also celery in some pots.

It cracked me up this week when a black swallowtail laid eggs on the celery. I told her that she was wrong, the parsley was over that way, downwind. Then she laid eggs on the parsley. I immediately told her not bother my parsley, because I need that. Not for her. Then she laid on the celery again and I gave up.
Certainly it is a different type of growing and "pests" than an inground vegetable garden.

I had a good time with it but haven't used many herbs.
And I have questions.

The Marjoram is starting to have some dried out brown seed heads. I picked some and it smells great, better than the expensive jar I bought last. Is that the way to harvest marjoram? Wait until it dries? Or should I pick it early and dry it out. I tasted some "fresh, green" and it is very fruity.

Cilantro, I was surprised it all ran through its course and went to seed already. That needs to be succession planted next year?
Are the coriander seeds the entire little nut, or just the meat inside? I have bought "whole coriander" before, and very cheaply, but I can't remember exactly what it looked like. These are pretty fragile nuts.

Dill- Is this something that also needs to be succession planted? Can it be done in the same pots? I went to make pickles today and all my dill flowers are gone. Just weed/seed left.

Any help appreciated.

[Shule]

I'm not sure about the answer to your questions, but regarding the fun of herb gardens, I recommend growing summer savory next year, too. Even if you don't figure out how to use it, it's really fun to grow, and it looks/smells great. The flowers are awesome, too.

[Shule]

Oh, and tarragon is pretty easy to grow abundantly. Mints, chives, and garlic chives, are some more options. Basil is a common choice.

[MissS]

Cilantro, I was surprised it all ran through its course and went to seed already. That needs to be succession planted next year?
Are the coriander seeds the entire little nut, or just the meat inside? I have bought "whole coriander" before, and very cheaply, but I can't remember exactly what it looked like. These are pretty fragile nuts.

Dill- Is this something that also needs to be succession planted? Can it be done in the same pots? I went to make pickles today and all my dill flowers are gone. Just weed/seed left.

Any help appreciated.

Cilantro does bolt very quickly. I plant some every 2-3 weeks. It does take some tme for it to germinate.
I sow dill 2-3 times per season or I won't seem to have it when I need it.

[bower]

Dill seed is great for pickles too.
Coriander seed that you buy is the fully mature brown seed you can harvest from your own plant. If you're a fan of fresh cilantro taste, you can also harvest and dry some immature green seeds, for a different flavor.
Both dill and coriander/cilantry seem to bolt pretty quickly. There are varieties meant to resist bolting but.... only for so long.
Sow regularly for a constant supply.
I haven't grown Marjoram so no comment there.

Sage, Thyme, Oregano are hardy perennial plants. Sage and Thyme bloom relatively early. For healthy leaf and a good harvest of the herb late summer, it's a best practice to trim off the flower/seed heads when they're done, then make a cut of the herb to dry in the fall.
Oregano (the wild stuff Origanum vulgare I think) blooms in late summer into fall, absolutely loved by bees. It will seed itself and can be invasive but it's not a difficult weed to dig. You might have Greek Oregano, which is not as hardy but is said to have better flavor. IDK about that one.
Rosemary isn't hardy enough to survive winter here. I have it in my greenhouse, and it flowers all winter into spring.
Grow Rosemary and you'll always have more than you need, or can even give away... Great stuff, though.

[JRinPA]

Hey thanks all.

I tried some old seed of garlic chives, and chives also I think. Got some to sprout this spring but they didn't survive much past plant out. They looked pretty weak.

I got very little coriander, used some for pickles today.Kept maybe 20 to try to germinate. I think I did that last week as well, put some in microblocks, but they just cooked out there in the sun, I guess. No sprouts, from two seed types (coriander and another). I didn't notice soon enough, probably most of the coriander fell into the grass.

[pepperhead212]

You're going to be busy, with all those new herbs! Here's some of the stuff I do with many of these same herbs:

Cilantro bolts way too fast for me. It is my guess that this has something to do with the length of day, not so much a heat thing, as most areas it is used in their cuisines are in the tropics. I grow it indoors, in hydroponics under 16 hr lights, in the off-season, and it takes a lot longer to bolt, and gets a lot more leaves and stems. Planted out in cool weather even, it bolts soon still, though I still try some, and leave the flowers on, to attract pollinators, as they are the earliest. There are 3 different types I've tried - the usual, brown seeded, supposedly late bolt varieties; a smaller, reddish seeded SE Asian variety, with a stronger coriander flavor (still bolts early); and the one I use the most of, that I get in Indian markets - the one with yellowish, slightly elongated seeds, used the most in Indian and Pakistani cuisines. Still no late bolters!

Dill has a large number of varieties, and Dukat and Tetra are the two I have found go the longest, before bolting. Tetra gets largest, and got too large for the hydroponics inside, the one time I tried it! Eventually they bolt, but often I see volunteers popping up, and don't have to succession plant them. The seed heads are good to harvest dry, and use in pickle jars, and if it is more the seeds you are looking for, you will want to look for a variety grown more for that.

The marjoram is more grown for the leaves than the seeds, though I leave the seeds on for quite a while, as they attract many pollinators, just like the coriander. It's got a flavor similar to Oregano, but the plants seem less invasive than oregano, which is why I use it - also have another oregano variety, which is thyme scented oregano. They look identical, but are also not quite as invasive as the Greek oregano. With all of them, I trim the flowers back in July sometime, and after grown back, sometime in fall, I trim the plants away, spread them out on some clean trays, and let them dry (they don't have to be put in the dehydrator). The leaves pull off of the stems easily, by themselves, unlike taking thyme off of thyme plants. The plants are perennials, and will grow back in the spring, after cutting all the way back.

As for those chives, regular chives will spread somewhat, and eventually I end up digging up clusters of the roots, and spreading them out - and maybe sharing the rest with friends! Those garlic chives, however, can become invasive, like mint or oregano. They flower in early spring, and again, about this time in summer, and get white flowers all over. Strange thing is, the plants pop up all over the yard, from those flowers, yet the regular chives, with their flowers, just spread gradually, like the seeds drop straight down! I have an area behind my shed that has become covered with garlic chives. These come back every season, some of the first ones.

Sage is another perennial, that you can cut down to the ground, and it will grow back in spring. And sage is something that has two different major flavor oils, giving the fresh and dried a totally different flavor. This is because a lot more one of them, when dried, remains in the herb, while the other is a lot more volatile, so much less of it remains. To keep the flavor of some of the fresh, you can freeze it, or salt layer it, and the flavor stays pretty close to the fresh.

The rosemary has to be protected, in some way - either covered, when the lows get below 20°f, or kept inside. But it's still worth it!

Parsley is something I plant a lot of, mainly for the swallowtails, which also like the dill that I plant.

[peebee]

In my garden in SoCal cilantro is a cool season plant, I just can't grow it well during the warm months. Wish it did, while I have tomatoes. I usually just buy it at the store then. It's a must-have herb for me & used to spring up everywhere after the first fall rains, when we had fall rains. Weather has changed as it has for all of us, so now I have to water well & they reappear. I haven't had to buy seeds or a plants for over 20 years at least.

[karstopography]

Cilantro is also a cool season herb hereabouts. So are dill and fennel. Caribe cilantro hangs in there longer than others before bolting. I kind of like the look of bolting cilantro. I’ll nibble out in the garden the not quite dry still green coriander seeds, they are pungent, but really good, in small doses.

The black swallowtail butterflies seem to prefer dill in my plot over fennel or celery. I’ve only grown the stalk celery, Giant Pascal. The butterflies show up in the spring to lay their eggs as the dill is nearing the bolting stage. The caterpillars are attractive to look at. Bouquet dill didn’t do very well here. Leafy Diana was much better.

[JRinPA]

Went out for some celery for tomato soup last night....found those pests! I knew she was up to no good...

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[MissS]

The woes and joys of gardening. I have planted so much to attract the Black Swallowtails and have not had a taker in three years. I would be glad to have this problelm. I guess that you need to cover the plants that you want for yourself so that the butterflies don't find them first.

[JRinPA]

Yeah I love them. Just had to be careful picking because I knew they would be on there since I saw her laying eggs. I definitely see them more on the vegetables than I do the tiger swallowtails. I forget what they eat. Monarchs it is milkweed, I remember that. For black swallowtail, parsley parsnips fennel carrots celery and asparagus so far. I did not know they liked celery - first year for me for celery. I will have to check the dill, but...well that all died back, that's right. I did not notice any when I had dill up.

Last year I speculated that some caterpillars took a strong wind to the asparagus, but I found some more this year so it appears they just plain like it.

[JRinPA]

the more the merrier.
This one just laid a egg about an inch in front of the biggest caterpillar on the parsley.

[bower]

I love the new avatar pic @JRinPA
Shows you are a real herb aficionado.

[JRinPA]

I think this guy must have been on a harvested celery leaf from a week or two back. Now on an old garlic stalk. I will move him back there.

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edit
No more compost trash bin; Oscar is back where he belongs. I thought I was pretty careful but apparently not careful enough. He managed to crawl up that garlic stalk after getting kitchen scraps thrown on him at least 3 times...