I was watering my pots of basil and was admireing the lettuce leaf basil. Sure does,t look like the others what with those crinkly leaves.

My favorite herbs?

So many! I use lots of parsley, basil, rosemary, fennel and cilantro for cooking and adding to salads. Basil and cilantro are blended into "pesto" to preserve for year-round use. By "pesto", I mean simply blending with olive oil, pouring into a zip-close bag, flattened so it is easy to break off small portions and popping into the freezer.

Mint, lemon balm, chamomile are used fresh for tea or infusing into water for drinking. I dry (lots of) calendula and chamomile for drying and infusing into jojoba for skin-soothing balms. Spilanthes gets tinctured for mouthwash...after enjoying their fun eyeball blooms and sharing the leaves and blossoms with anyone who in interested in seeing if they really do numb your tongue (and gums when irritated - nature's Orajel).

Not bad for an urban yard that is less than a 1/10th acre!

I agree. Good use of your land and of putting all your herbs to good use.

I grow far more vasil than any other herbs, I just like to grow basil.

So this year new to me one of ny basils is called Romanesco. It has a very strong scent and taste of licorish. Notice it right away upon cutting.

I gave some to my friend. She doesn't like the flavor mulch abnd neither do I .

I will be trying it out on other neightbors to see what they think. Some people must like it or they would not be selling the seed for such a variety.

Your experience with basil and lettuce leaf basil sounds intriguing. It's fascinating how each plant can have its own unique characteristics, like those crinkly leaves on the lettuce leaf basil. Gardening is full of pleasant surprises that make the process so rewarding.

I find basil very rewarding to grow. It seems like everyone I know loves basil.

I am so late this spring. I have cilantro seeds and have not even started them. Plus my dill should have been sown weeks ago.

I'm late too, but opposite from you Rita. No basil yet; already harvesting and giving out cilantro and dill with more coming up. My Italian parsley, in its third year, is bolting. I'll leave it for the swallowtails and start some new.

Culinary sage is about to burst into flower—one of my faves! Lettuce is lush but bitter. Harvested some noid nepeta from the pathway, leaving the rest for bees. I'm so grateful for the perennials and self-seeders that require no help from me!

Clock wise from top left: rosemary, bolting parsley, red romaine, cilantro center)




Self-seeded dill


Volunteer nepeta (possibly N. x faassinii)


Can't for this to bloom! 💜

So what do you do with the nepeta ?

The only culinary purpose I use it for is as an ingredient in herbal tea, so I don't need much. This year my daughter and I were talking about making cat toys to sell at the end of the year, in which case I'll need more. I'm not sure about the potency of this noid, but it was growing in a much-used pathway and would gotten trampled, so I'll give it a try.

I've had to put it up on a tall cabinet until I can bag it for drying... Marley the Cat wanted to nest in it 😺

Being generally disorganized, I haven't gotten around to bagging and hanging the above-mentioned catmint and dill — still sitting in boxes on the table. Marley joined me tonight. I'm thinking this isn't the most potent nepeta. Or the most discerning cat!


For those of you in damper climates, rest assured these herbs can dry just fine like this with occasional turning. The bagging and hanging is tidier but only marginally more efficient in this arid high desert air.

I have lots of rosemary plants. They are very easy to grow, especially from cuttings. I have had some plants for over 30 years.

I also enjoy growing basil. That also very easy to grow from seed or cuttings.

Same here. The scent of both is so wonderful.

Trimmed the oregano back, yummmm, changed tomato trellis and tied them up,

French thyme and dill are crazy this year

Made great progress all week on my veggie seedlings planting so tomorrow I hope to start on my basil seedlings.

I grow them in large pots. All such pots have weeds growing in them fronm over winter. So first weed all pots and add fresh potting mix. Then decide which variety to put were and get some actually planted.

The seedlings really need to be planted out. They are crowded and floping over.