Herb of the Year 2012

The beautiful, useful, fragrant Rose is the Herb of the Year for 2012. Check out the enclosed link for lots of info about using rosewater, rose hips and rose petals. 

http://herboftheyear.blogspot.com/

August Newsletter from The Herb Cottage

Hello Everyone,

I've posted my August Newsletter: Stevia, The Sweet Herb...  You Can Grow It!!! 

You can find it here: http://theherbcottage.com/news_arch_2009.html

Hope everyone in the path of Irene is doing OK. We're hot as Hades here... still with no rain.

A Little Rain

A little rain fell last night here at The Herb Cottage. It was only 0.29", but as I lay in bed listening to it, I felt refreshed. There was even accompanying thunder and lightening. It had been almost 30 days since our last meager rainfall and with the extreme heat we've been having, everything is sere and brown around the farm. Just the sound of the rain made me feel nourished and refreshed.

As a bonus, I found myself at rather loose ends this morning as I did not have to engage in my morning watering schedule. What to do with myself?? 

The upcoming weekend is forecast to be very hot and dry, so this little rain will disappear into the ether. My memory of it, however, will not.

Popsicles to Beat the Heat

It's so hot here in Texas, you really could fry and egg on the sidewalk- not to mention the roof of your truck. So, when I saw this on Epicurious, I thought- what a great idea! When I was a kid waaaaay back in the 1950's my Mom used to make Kool-Aid popsicles for us in the summer time. We didn't have a fancy mold or even sticks. She just made them up in the aluminum ice cube trays and we sucked and chewed them from a plastic cup. 

These popsicles are much more healthy than the ones I had as a kid- made with fresh or frozen fruit. For a sweetener you can use agave nectar or even honey, if you like.  And, for an adult treat, some of the recipes have a little vodka or rum added.... hmmm... banana rum popsicle... 

So, have a look at the recipes and try one or two. It'll surely cool you down a bit. 

Until Next time.... 

Herbal Quiz

Ruby Begonia sitting in a pot of Sugar Cane- looking for shade

Since it's been so hot lately... up to 104ºF in the afternoon... in between going outside to water a section at a time, I've been spending time on my computer browsing the Internet looking at various herb related websites. I found an Herbal Quiz: Test Your Herbal IQ It's an informative and interesting quiz. I even missed a couple of questions!! I enjoyed the whole website, too. So, if you have a few minutes, take the Quiz and see what you might know and might not know about some herbs. 

Until next time... 

Stay cool and keep those herbs happy!

Still hot... still no rain!

We're still desperately dry here in my part of Texas. It seems all my activities involve water. I'm either watering plants, filling the waterer in the poultry yard or making sure the wild birds have enough water. Oh, and occasionally adding water to our water garden due to evaporation. Oh, and of course, drinking water myself or making tea. I sure hope our well holds out! So far, so good, however. 

Here's a cheery planter that seems to laugh at the heat as long as I keep it watered:

That's portulaca in the front which loves the heat, garlic chives in the middle and lime mint on the right. Garlic chives always bloom in the hottest part of the summer, which is always a treat. 

If you think your eyes are playing tricks on you, they're not. The old whiskey barrel planter is leaning to the side. I think it's on its last season.

Until next time... stay cool, drink your herb tea for health and refreshment and enjoy your gardens!

Cindy

Prune Those Mints!

If you live where it's been hot already for weeks on end... like here in Texas, for instance, your mints may be looking a little leggy and less than perky. What to do? Prune! 

Mints don't really like our extremely hot weather... in fact, mints do best where it's cool and moist. Well, we can do moist... but, cool?... not this time of year... sorry. So, mints take well to pruning during the extreme heat of a southern summer. If you've been using your mints regularly, you might not need to prune them because when you harvest, you are pruning. 

I've been using this Lime Mint for tea all summer and it's nice and bushy. Also, this tub get's watered daily.

This Lemon Balm was recently cut back all the way to the soil line. See how nicely it's regrowing. Also watered daily in this container.

These little pots of Doublemint definitely need pruning. I'll use the cut offs to make more plants!

 

 

 

 

Take some time this week and prune down your Mints, Lemon Balm- even your Oregano if it's looking leggy. Oregano should not be pruned all the way to the ground, like you can do with mints. Prune your Oregano by about 1/3 to 1/2 of its current size. 

The plants will thank you with lush new growth and lots of material to harvest in a month to 6 weeks. And... you'll have wonderful, aromatic herbs for fall when we get back into the kitchen to think about soups, stews and all those other cool weather dishes.