There comes a point every year when the garden stops feeling like something I’m growing and starts feeling like something I need to deal with before Mother Nature deals with it for me.
We have officially reached that point.
I’m watching the weather for our first freeze warning, harvesting things as they’re ready, drying what I can, making a few tinctures, and deciding which plants I’m going to try to convince to come back next year.
After the summer we’ve had, I’m honestly pretty damn proud there’s anything left to harvest.
The heat kicked this garden’s ass. Some herbs barely grew. Some died. A few never bothered coming up at all. Others struggled all summer and suddenly decided September was their time to shine.
Now we’re under water restrictions and can only water once a week, so the final stretch is pretty much survival of the fittest. I’ve done what I can.
But as I start putting this end of season herb garden to bed, I’m realizing how much I learned from it this year.I know what I actually use, what I need more of, what I planted enough of, and what I’ll do completely differently next year.
So before the first freeze makes the rest of the decisions for me, here’s what I’m doing with all these herbs.
I’m Harvesting as They’re Ready
I don’t have one big official harvest day. I’m watching the plants and taking things as they’re ready.
Some have already been harvested several times. Others, like my motherwort, I’m deliberately leaving alone a little longer because I want to give it as much time as possible to grow before I cut it for tincture.
My calendula hasn’t produced nearly as many flowers as I hoped, so I’m giving that stubborn little thing every opportunity to take advantage of the cooler weather and give me a few more blooms.
Eventually, the first real freeze warning will make the decision for me and whatever needs harvested is getting harvested.
Until then, I’m letting the garden have whatever growing time it has left.
Most of It Is Getting Dried
Unless I already have a specific preparation in mind, drying is probably my favorite way to preserve herbs because it keeps my options open.
I don’t necessarily know in September exactly what I’ll want to make in January. If I dry an herb and store it properly, I can decide later whether it becomes tea, goes into a simmer pot, ends up in a recipe, or becomes part of some experiment I haven’t even thought of yet.
I use different drying methods depending on the plant. Some herbs, including sage and peppermint, I hang to dry. Others go into the dehydrator.
My lemongrass went into the dehydrator, and now I have a nice supply of dried lemongrass waiting for me to figure out what the hell I want to make with it. I love the smell, I know I want to use it, and apparently that is enough of a plan for now.
Once everything is completely dry, it goes into glass jars labeled with both the common herb name and its formal name.
Nothing particularly fancy. Just preserved herbs sitting on the shelf waiting until I need them.
Some Herbs Already Have a Job
Drying covers most of my herbs, but a few already have specific jobs waiting for them.
Most of my remaining fresh lemon balm will become a tincture, and whatever I don’t use for that will be dried. I only grew one lemon balm plant this year, which was a mistake because I love lemon balm and actually use it.
Next year I’m thinking five plants instead of one, and I’m putting them in the ground instead of a pot.
My holy basil will mostly become tincture too, with the remainder dried. Motherwort is still growing, so once I’m happy with how far it has gotten, I’ll harvest it for tincture and dry whatever remains.
I’ve already made peppermint tincture and peppermint extract, and I made a sage tincture that I’m going to personally experiment with for hot flashes.
A few of my culinary herbs went into the freezer instead. Basil has been dried, frozen, turned into basil salt, and used fresh in meals. Oregano has been frozen, including some in oil for easy cooking later, and thyme has been both dried and frozen.
This is one of the bigger things I’m figuring out as I grow more herbs.
It isn’t just, “Can I grow this?”
It’s also, “Will I actually use this if I grow it?”
Those are two very different questions.
Who Gets to Stay for Winter
Not everything is getting cut down and forgotten.
My spearmint started slowly this year but eventually went crazy. I have three plants now, and I’m going to cover them with straw and see how they do through winter. I’ll do the same with my thyme, peppermint, and sage.
The sage should be interesting because I have three plants in one of my circular beds, and they grew beautifully.
Of course they did.
The herb I don’t have a million uses for is thriving while the calendula I desperately wanted is over there giving me three flowers and an attitude.
If those three sage plants return next year, that’s plenty. I don’t need any more.
Rosemary is getting a different experiment. I grew two plants in separate pots, and neither did particularly well. This fall I’m going to transplant them directly into the ground, not another pot and not a raised bed, and see what happens next spring.
My lemongrass, on the other hand, loved its pots. I’ve already cut and dried it, but I’m bringing the plants inside for winter to see if I can keep them alive and put them back outside next spring.
I have no idea if they’ll cooperate, but we shall see.
What Worked, What Didn’t, and What I’m Changing
This was definitely not the year of the perfect herb garden, but I think the plants that struggled taught me more about next year’s garden than the ones that sailed through summer.
Basil
I planted tons of basil.
One plant survived.
ONE.
I use basil constantly, so I know the problem isn’t that I planted something I don’t need. Next year I’ll grow plenty again, but instead of pots, I’m moving it into one of my more shaded beds and seeing if that gives it some relief from the heat.
Holy Basil
I planted quite a bit, but only a few plants came up and the heat didn’t do them any favors.
I still want roughly the same amount next year, but I’m going to start it indoors and be more particular about where I buy the seed.
Calendula
This was probably one of my biggest disappointments.
I planted a lot because I actually use a lot. I make calendula-infused oil and love adding the flowers to simmer pots.
The plants grew. The flowers? Not so much.
I’m drying every bloom I get and hoping the cooler weather encourages them to finally take off before the freeze. Otherwise, I’ll be buying dried calendula again this year.
Next year I actually want to plant more. I just need to figure out where to put it so it can be the happiest little calendula it can possibly be.
Chamomile
Chamomile wasn’t much better.
The plant I put in a pot died. The plants in the bed did a little better, but I think the intense sun was simply too much for them. I’ve dried the flowers I managed to harvest and used some in simmer pots, but I want a lot more chamomile than I grew this year.
I’m going to start it indoors this winter and find a better place for it next spring.
Rosemary and Lavender
The two rosemary plants I put in pots didn’t do particularly well, and neither did my two potted lavender plants.
But I already have an established lavender plant in the front yard that gave me flowers to harvest and dry, so I know lavender itself isn’t necessarily the problem.
Next year I’ll start some lavender from seed indoors and try a couple more in my circular beds. I’ll also grow more rosemary because I use it frequently in oils, but I’m done assuming those pots are the best place for it.
Oregano
I planted two oregano plants with my tomatoes.
The tomatoes went crazy and basically turned into giant bullies that blocked the oregano’s sun.
I still managed to freeze some oregano, including some in oil for cooking, and I’ll dry whatever is left. If I end up with enough, I’d also like to make an oregano-infused oil.
Next year the oregano gets its own bed. Probably three plants, with no tomatoes allowed to take over the neighborhood.
The Ones That Didn’t Even Have the Decency to Struggle
Cilantro died. Dill died.
Catnip never came up. Mullein never came up.
Thanks for participating, everyone.
But I’m not writing any of them off after one miserable growing season. Next year I’m starting all four indoors so they have a chance to establish before I put them outside.
I’m especially interested in trying mullein again because a friend has a plant that did amazingly well, and she’s bringing me seeds from hers.
Maybe those seeds will decide my garden is worthy of their presence.
The Ones I Got About Right
Not everything needs a major overhaul next year.
My thyme spread beautifully in its little bed, and one plant is plenty because thyme is strong and a little goes a long way.
My four peppermint plants struggled during the worst heat but are doing great now. If they come back next year, I don’t need more.
Parsley took forever to get started and never became huge, but it eventually gave me a decent amount of leaves. I don’t use a ton of parsley yet, so around four plants again next year should be plenty.
My three spearmint plants eventually took off, and I’ll probably add two more next year.
Motherwort was just weird. Some plants in the same bed grew big while others stayed tiny because apparently consistency was too much to ask. I’ll still add another couple next year and aim for around five to seven plants total.
And then there’s sage.
Three plants. Great growth. Plenty of sage.
Absolutely no more sage.
Then There’s Chocolate Mint
Chocolate mint deserves its own little mention because I bought exactly one plant at a nursery for one very scientific reason:
Chocolate mint? Hell yeah. I need to smell that.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t really smell like chocolate.
It didn’t grow particularly large in its pot, and I haven’t done a single thing with it. I might dry it, or I might leave it sitting right where it is and see if it comes back next year.
If it survives, it can stay.
But I’m not buying it friends.
Sometimes gardening is also learning what you don’t need more of.
I’m Changing How I Buy Seeds, Too
I’m not saving seeds from my garden this year.
Instead, I want to narrow my seed buying down to maybe two companies with really good reputations. I bought some seed from companies I liked this year, and most of those did well.
Next year I’d rather be more intentional about where everything comes from so I’m starting with seed I feel confident about.
Then when something doesn’t grow, I can start narrowing down whether the issue was the seed, my growing conditions, my timing, or just one of those gardening mysteries that makes you want to throw a watering can across the yard.
What My End of Season Herb Garden Actually Taught Me
If you asked me what I’m proudest of from this year’s herb garden, it isn’t any particular plant.
It’s that I stayed consistent.
There were plenty of days when it was ridiculously hot and I did not want to deal with that garden. Things weren’t growing the way I expected. Plants I really wanted struggled while things I wasn’t particularly excited about were living their best lives.
But I kept going out there.
I watered it. I checked on things. I harvested what was ready. I tried something different when something wasn’t working.
I got that garden through the summer from hell.
And after everything I learned this year, I think the advice I’d give someone starting their own herb garden is pretty simple:
Only plant what you think you’ll use.
Don’t expect it to be perfect.
Learn, let go, and move forward.
Everything is a learning experience.
Even the chocolate mint.
