Bay, sage and oregano

[Borlotti]

Showing someone my herbs and gave him a leaf of bay to smell and he ate it.  Told him off and was a bit worried that I had killed him, but have just looked it up and they are not poisoness.  ;D ;D  My purple sage is flowering and am wondering whether to use the flowers and dry them or just stick with the leaves and let the bees enjoy the flowers.  (Must stop buying packets of sage and onion stuffing and make it). With the oregano I cut it when flowering and hang it up and then crumble it in a bag.  My rosemary bush has got enormous do I just hack it down, have taken a few cuttings.  A bit worried about herbs as don't want to kill anyone.  :( :( :( :(  Don't use the sunflower seeds, nastarum or courgette flowers, but they look pretty.  If is OK to eat sunflower seeds and nastarum seeds raw.  Perhaps I should go on a course but am a bit old now.  Do use a lot of mint, must dry some soon.

[Borlotti]

[Sally A]

Just had a look in my herb book,
Sage - leaves should be picked just before flowering, flowers can be scattered on salads or infused for a light balsamic tea.  Think I read in another book that sage leaves can be frozen whole to use out of season. The one I overwintered from last year is flowering, must admit I never realised how pretty the flowers are.

Oregano - again pick before flowering, small leaves can be picked at any time, when you pick the rest before flowering they too can be frozen - I love oregano on a tomato-ey pizza.

My rosemary is out of control too, I tend to thin it out and take a few cuttings from the thinnings, I'm a bit rubbish when it comes to pruning rosemary and lavender.

[cleo]

None of those herbs are poisonous-so enjoy them.

Bay needs pruning as left to itself it will become a tree,and rosemary needs cutting back from time to time as well.

[Jeannine]

All those seeds are OK, as are pumpkin and winter squash seed.

I have a very good herb seed source here who puts out a good catalogue with lots of info, while you might not want to order from them the catalogue is excellent for info and is online.  They might even send you a paper one as they do ship internationally

                        http://richters.com

It might be useful for looking things up and it does tell you which are edible or not .

XX Jeannine

[lottie lou]

Bay is very pretty grown into a tree and trimmed into a ball.  After I tried pruning and tidying up my rosemary, it left home.

[GrannieAnnie]

Berlotti, I'm jealous of your rosemary. Mine only lasts a season before it croaks which hardly makes it worth the price.

[Digeroo]

My rosemary is huge and on a take over bid of the front garden.  I have tried to get pink flowered ones to take without success.   I have managed to root sage though not the variagated type and bay but never managed to get a cutting to root of the rosemary.  Actually that is not strictly correct they root in the pot and then disappear as soon as they are planted out.

Bay tree came from a cutting taken about twenty years ago from a tree my mother had and this year it flowered for the first time and was completely covered in them.  Very strange I suppose it was the hard winter.  You put bay leaves into stews etc so I had always thought it was edible.

[Vortex]

I'm with digeroo - our rosemary keeps attempting to take over. I've tried taking cuttings but only get a 10% strike rate - and then generally put them somewhere I forget to water.
I finally managed to grow oregano last year after failing 3 years in a row, and this year managed to successfully germinate mint seed - after I killed the last lost of (pot grown) mint about 3 years ago.

[GrannieAnnie]

I'm with digeroo - our rosemary keeps attempting to take over. I've tried taking cuttings but only get a 10% strike rate - and then generally put them somewhere I forget to water.
I finally managed to grow oregano last year after failing 3 years in a row, and this year managed to successfully germinate mint seed - after I killed the last lost of (pot grown) mint about 3 years ago.

The oregano seeds are like dust! Did you plant them in a pot? I tried once directly into the ground and they never germinated.

[Digeroo]

I have a large pot of mint, no idea where I got it but I have been trying to kill it without success for some time now.  No idea how it survives.  Seems to like the north side of the house.  Gets watered in the winter and occassionally in the summer.  Everytime it re emerges in the spring I am totally amazed.  It must be totally pot bound by now. 

[aquilegia]

What's the secret of your huge rosemary? Mine is pathetic! Maybe I need to stop cooking with it so much!

[Jill]

I use nasturtium, sage, marjoram and borage flowers in salads and deep fried courgette flowers are deelish!

[Vortex]

The oregano seeds are like dust! Did you plant them in a pot? I tried once directly into the ground and they never germinated.

Both mint and oregano seeds are very like dust. I started them off in a small margerine tub, the small rectangular type like benecol comes in. In both cases then went in an electric progogator after sowing. I think in both cases I 3/4 filled the tub, compressed the compost lightly with the bottom of a similar tub, rubbed my finger over the compost to loosen it slightly, sprinkled the seed on, then watered in gently.
Also don't sow the whole packet in one go, that way you can have several attempts if you fail the first time. It took me several to get them to germinate.

[GrannieAnnie]

The oregano seeds are like dust! Did you plant them in a pot? I tried once directly into the ground and they never germinated.

Both mint and oregano seeds are very like dust. I started them off in a small margerine tub, the small rectangular type like benecol comes in. In both cases then went in an electric progogator after sowing. I think in both cases I 3/4 filled the tub, compressed the compost lightly with the bottom of a similar tub, rubbed my finger over the compost to loosen it slightly, sprinkled the seed on, then watered in gently.
Also don't sow the whole packet in one go, that way you can have several attempts if you fail the first time. It took me several to get them to germinate.

Thank you, Vortex. I'll try again.

[Borlotti]

Rosemary too big, and think is in oregano (Nick said it was) and have been eating it.

[Borlotti]

it is, fingers got mixed up.

[GrannieAnnie]

I'm GREEN.