Waiting to Plant a Spring Garden

Reader Contribution by Lemon Verbena Lady
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You can check out the Lemon Verbena Lady at her bloghttp://lemonverbenalady.blogspot.com.

When the winter weather is unrelenting like it is here, hope that you have herbs in containers to keep you sane! I was very hopeful several weeks ago that we were on the way to spring a little early. Not to be! I will be happy to see any sign of the herb garden before spring arrives in five weeks or so. Hopefully, the snow will have acted as an insulator and kept plants intact.

My herb garden in February, 2010.

Some of our herbs are on the windowsills that have southern exposure like this lemon verbena and scented geranium.

Lemon verbena and scented geranium sitting on my windowsill.

A couple of ‘Logee’s Snowflake’ and wooly mint-scented geraniums are doing fine in the basement with little light.

‘Logee’s Snowflake’ and wooly mint-scented geraniums surviving in my basement.

Then our garage plays a large role because it too has south facing windows and is cool, but not cold for a sweet lavender, a Victorian rosemary and a Habek mint.

Sweet lavender, Victorian rosemary and Habek mint flourishing in the garage.

The best way to keep a rosemary through our winter is to have it in a cool room with southern exposure, a garage or an unheated room. This rosemary was dug late in the season. We never dig plants too soon. The Herbal Husband and I tend to wait until the killing frost comes to dig plants up. Don’t wait that long. You want to give the herbs plenty of time to get adjusted. This is our prostrate rosemary in late December. It has actually grown some new shoots since this picture was taken.

A prostrate rosemary has found just the right spot in the garage.

So when the winter season is getting you down, hopefully you have some herbs on your windowsills to keep you company. Hurry spring! It can’t come soon enough for me and The Herbal Husband!

  • Published on Feb 17, 2010
Tagged with: Reader Contributions
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