Home Herb Garden - Winterizing Your Herbs
Posted: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
by Lisa Summerfield
http://herbgardensolutions.com
During the summer months it is easy to keep and sustain your herbs as they simply need the right amount of sunlight and moisture while growing in the garden. You can harvest as much or as little as you need for the evening meal and do not have to pay much thought to their well-being. However, as the season changes the problem of how to winterizeyour home herb garden arises! Depending on your climate, there are several options available for protecting your plants throughout the winter. When you consider winterizing the home herb garden, just think how hard and deep your frosts are. Most of the continental United States will touch freezing during the winter, but January in northern Georgia is very different from the same month in northern Minnesota. The deeper the frosts and the colder the temperatures, the more precautions you will have to take in order for the herbs to see it through the winter.
To save your home herb garden throughout winter you may be able to take the herbs indoors. This works best if the herbs are kept in containers all year round since planting and replanting them can cause stress and in less hardy plants such as parsley, this can lead to stunted growth or even death. During summer the containers can be placed outdoors or even submerged in the garden soil however, as soon as the first frost is imminent, you just need to shift these plants indoors and they should survive the winter. Make sure to check the ideal temperature for your herbs because some kinds do not do well in the hot, dry climate created by central heating.
If you have decided to leave the plants in the home herb garden all winter, it will be good to prepare both the plants and the soil to stand up against the cold by making sure that the soil has good drainage. If there is too much moisture in the ground it can cause the roots to freeze with obvious, disastrous consequences. A good tip is to create a layer of thick insulation between the soil and the outer air and the best way to accomplish this is with a six inch layer of wood chips, straw or mulch; it will keep the soil from freezing for longer, as well as insulate the lower level of the plant against the cold. You may experience some die off at the top, but the stem and roots should remain untouched maintaining the herbs alive till the next spring and your home herb garden will grow abundantly again.
Perennial herbs like rosemary will do well if they have the chance to build up their natural defenses against the cold which means that it is better not to prune them after August. You can still harvest from your home herb garden, enough herbs for mealtime, but the more you prune back your plants the more new growth will be stimulated and this new part is the one thing to die off in winter. So let your herbs direct their energy toward making their leaves and stems thick and hardy rather than encouraging new growth. The same goes for fertilizing too late in the season since this practice stimulates new shoots. Keep the plants in your home herb garden watered even after the first couple of frosts because a little water in the morning is beneficial as the herbs will continue to lose moisture which is needed to help combat the cold.
Once the spring comes again check through the plants you left outside to see how they managed the cold weather, it may be that they look dead but make sure to check at the base of the plant before giving it up for lost. If need be, scrape off a small layer of bark to check for new growth underneath. Severely prune back the dead leaves and wait a few weeks for the new leaves to grow from the stem nodes. If you took the proper precautions and the winter was not unduly severe you will see your home herb garden back in bloom in just a few weeks.
Lisa Summerfield is the author of "Secrets To A Successful Home Herb Garden" - compulsory reading for anyone considering to grow a thriving herb garden. Her website contains valuable information on how to easily grow your own delicious herbs... Even if you have never grown a garden before!
For a FREE 10 part mini-course on "The Secrets To Growing Delicious Herbs at Home!" go to http://herbgardensolutions.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Great article Lisa. Thank you for writing this, it is very helpful.I am delighted and honored that you joined my fan club. Thank you. ~Nenita~I love your writing and am glad you read my articles
I am re-reading your article via the Reader's Club. Thank you for sharing this informative article to us. I enjoyed reading it. ~Nenita~
It is tough to beat having an arsenal of fresh herbs at your disposal when cooking from home. They are leagues better than the dried stuff :).Your're richt Rick, no comnparison. A simple dish can become just delicious with a few herbs.
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