Wednesday, April 09, 2014

Oregano

Once we started our vegetable garden in 2004 (ten years ago!), I thought it would be nice to have one plot dedicated to herbs. I planted the Simon and Garfunkel herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme) along with some tarragon, chervil, and oregano. I was training the rosemary into a kind of simple topiary in the center of the plot; it was one tall woody stem with a ball of leaves at the top. Just as it was getting nice, it froze.

Fresh oregano in a planter box. It will bloom with little purple flowers later this summer.

I had a hell of a time keeping the herbs going and the weeds down, until the weeds won and I gave up on the herb garden. But we still have the herbs. The sage came from a cutting I made from another patch in the yard, and that's still growing well. I moved the thyme and planted some new rosemary against the southern wall of the house where they've thrived ever since. Tarragon hangs on in a pot that spends its winters indoors.

The oregano escaped the garden plot and comes up every year as part of the lawn around the garden. The bunch in the photo above was put into a planter box. It, too, comes back every year. This year I planted some parsley seeds in the box beside it. And I've put chervil seeds out again with the spring crops.

Are you going to Scarborough Fair? And I do know that the song is a traditional English ballad from way back, but S&G's version is best known to us Yanks. And while Jamie Oliver and his countrymen say [o-re-GA-no], we say [o-RE-ga-no]. Don't know why.

7 comments:

  1. You say to-MAY-to and .... Anyway, it's great you have all those herbs. We don't have any land (in greater downtown Amboise) and so we try to grow them in pots with limited success. Your oregano looks quite happy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. regano (no o needed; pronounced REGano in philly) - never seen it in the wild before. the things one can learn from one's friends! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm going to try putting tarragon in a pot this year and bring it in. I wish I had brought more in this winter- it was so cold that parts are dead dead.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love fresh herbs. No dill?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Walt,
    I am a lover of herbs! My oregano also comes back every year, sometimes too much. No matter, I love my oregano as do the bees. My chives also come back on their own. I have to plant parsley every year but it thrives during the summer as does my rosemary and thyme. My garden wouldn't be the same with out Simon and Garfinkel.
    Ron

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't know why I can't seem to keep my thyme plant alive. I have been successful with basil, rosemary, oregano, and mint. My cooking got so much better when I started using fresh herbs. As for the parsley, I pick up a bunch every couple weeks and just keep it in a glass like a bouquet. Works for me. Your garden looks lovely.

    Madonna
    MakeMIneLemon

    ReplyDelete

Tell me what you think!