Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Gardener's Request: Can I plant mint and thyme together? Thank you for your response.
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk.
Mint and thyme are wonderful herbs to have in the garden; both herbs have a lovely scent and their flowers are attractive to many beneficial insects.
Mint is considered a rather aggressive herb; therefore, it is best to plant mint by itself in a pot, not in the ground. You can try to plant both mint and thyme together in a pot; however, please realize over time the mint will probably take over the thyme. Mint and thyme also have different water requirements, thyme requires less water than mint.
Hope the above addresses your question. You can find further information regarding mint and thyme in the links below. Both links reference Sonoma County but the information should apply to Contra Costa County as well (we assumed you live in Contra Costa County).
Mint: http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/The_Kitchen_Garden/Feature_Vegetables/Mint/
Thyme: http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Food_Gardening/Feature_Vegetables/Thyme/
Please let us know if you need further assistance with this or other herb gardening.
Happy Gardening!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (mlk)
Note: Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ignore.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Biog.
- Author: Lauria Watts
I call these the Big Four: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Easy to grow in our area (southern California), common to find in pots, and tasty in recipes.
They can be beautiful in the garden or pot. Parsley is a deep, deep, woodsy green and quite pretty when it blooms in its second year of growth. Blooming Rosemary's pine-like leaves look frosted with sky-blue flowers when it blooms; some varieties have white or pink blossoms. Soft looking Sage grows in pillow-like mounds and throws some lovely flowers above the leaves. Tasty Thyme grows low, with tiny, tiny leaves, and is quite decorative when each branch is capped by a miniature pom-pom of dainty flowers.
These herbs are easy to dry. While a dehydrator will make a very easy task of drying herbs, drying can be done in an oven if you do it with care. I have dried parsley in my ancient natural gas wall oven quite quickly. As the oven is very old, circa 1965-1970 (as I said, ancient--not kidding here!), it has a pilot light which will keep the oven somewhere between 90º-100º F. Just about anything will dry quickly.
For best flavor pick these herbs just before they bloom, but don't worry, they will still have plenty of flavor if you don't. The day before picking you can spray down the plants to get dust off of the leaves. The next morning pick early and lay leafy branches in in mostly one layer on newspaper covered cookie sheets so that they will dry quickly. Then, put the sheets in the oven . My oven's door is braced slightly open and the herbs are stirred several times to ensure all properly dry to crispy. You can most easily separate leaves and twiggy matter after drying, then place leaves in storage containers, preferably glass jars . In just a day or so enough freshly dried herbs can be packed away to last for a year.
As Thyme has such fine leaves oven drying will keep them together well. Rosemary and Sage can be oven dried or you can go old school: gather picked branches in bundles of six and then hang them out of the sun in your house or garage/patio to dry; during our summers, this can be very quick. Make sure you pack your dried stuff into glass jars as soon as it is finished to keep your herbs fresh and clean. Store your packed herbs in a cool, dark, dry place.
Herbs carefully and properly dried with any method will be fresh, colorful and tasty. Additional bonuses of growing herbs for drying: you will have plenty of herbs for fresh use as well as dried, you will know they will be very flavorful, and you will have plenty to experiment with when cooking.
For a great instructional article from the National Center for Food Preservation (NCHFP), look here: Complete instructions on drying herbs from the NCHFP.
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By Denise Seghesio Levine, U.C. Master Gardener of Napa County
To pinch or not to pinch? That is the question. Pinching is a technique that can shape a plant; increase production of herbs, flowers and fruits; determine the size of blooms and fruit and even keep your garden blooming longer. But pinching is not the answer for every plant. So which plants should you pinch, and how?
Pinching is a form of pruning. You can do it with no other tool than your fingertips and fingernails, although if you have a lot of pinching to do, clean scissors or shears will save your manicure. By “pinching,” I mean actually removing the new tender growth at the end of a stem.
Pinch as close to leaf nodes as possible, being careful not to injure the tiny buds beneath. Each time you remove a main stem, your plant will try to grow two new stems beneath the pinch or cut. This easy technique encourages fullness and also helps keep plant size in check. It forces most plants to grow bushier and fuller rather than concentrating their energy on getting taller.
Basil, tarragon, thyme, sage, scented geraniums and marigolds respond well to pinching. Oregano and thyme do best when pinched or cut back to about half their length. Frequent pinching can keep rosemary and lavender to a manageable size during their spring growth spurt and supply you with lots of herbs for cooking. Cut back woody stems by no more than one-third.
With most herbs, the more you pinch, the more you will have. For a summer-long harvest of Genovese or Thai basil, pinch.
Inspect the base of the leaves where they connect to the stem and you will see new leaves forming in tiny pairs. Pinch right above that point and soon each pair of leaves will turn into a new branch. This practice keeps your plant producing leaves rather than going into flower and seed mode. Remember to feed your culinary herbs and keep them watered so they will work hard for you.
Many flowers benefit from pinching or cutting, rewarding you with armloads of blooms. But it's worth getting to know the few flowers that do not like this treatment because an unwelcome pinch can eliminate your entire harvest for the season. Do not pinch campanula, cockscomb, delphinium, dill, stock, larkspur and most sunflowers.
Do pinch annuals such as coleus, impatiens, salvia, most snapdragons and petunias early in the season to encourage bushing and spreading. Pinching encourages more side branches, which means more flowers and color for your garden or pots.
Always pinch at a node but decide how low to pinch depending on how compact you want the plant to be. Sweet peas will branch into a much fuller plant with pinching. When you are happy with your plants' shape, stop pinching and let them grow.
Zinnias and cosmos are especially generous bloomers if pinched. Pinch early to promote branching, then “pinch” by cutting flowers. The more frequently you pick bouquets, the more flowers you will have for your tables and your friends. It is a beautiful thing.
Each time you pinch a plant, you delay its flowering. The result is a plant with more side shoots but smaller flowers. With chrysanthemums you can decide if you want a few large flowers or many smaller ones. If you prefer dinner plate-size blossoms, remove side shoots and laterals early in the season when they are green and succulent, leaving only the few stems you want to bloom.
You can stagger bloom times with some late-flowering plants like Russian sage, phlox and asters by pinching back half of the plants in your flower bed by about one third. The pinched plants will bloom later, giving you a few more weeks of summer beauty.
Remove peony blossoms when they are finished so the plant can focus energy on next year's blossoms instead of producing seed. Clip foxglove after blooming to have healthy flowers next year or forego pinching them and let them self-seed. You will probably have fewer blossoms next year but potentially more plants.
Refrain from pinching if you want blossoms and seeds for local birds and insects. As a compromise position, let the last, late blooms go to seed, or identify a few plants as your seed producers for pollinators, birds and self-seeding.
Workshop: U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County will conduct a workshop on “Make Room for Salvias” on Saturday, April 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Every gardener should be able to find a salvia just right for that little (or big) space. Salvias are long-lasting, attract butterflies and pollinators and have attractive foliage. Learn how to select and care for these versatile plants.Online registration (credit card only);Mail-in/Walk-in registration (cash or check only)
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
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- Author: Shannon Wolfe
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so I am sure you have all the ingredients you might need for your upcoming feast. Lots of herbs make their way off the shelf and into this wonderful meal, so I thought this would be a great time to discuss some of the most popular herbs used in the traditional Thanksgiving meal, and give some tips on growing and storing them. If you don't already have any or all of these three herbs in your garden, you might consider planting some once spring rolls around.
Rosemary
Rosemary is always a popular herb - and a popular decorative shrub in our area as it is hearty and drought-tolerant. For Thanksgiving use, you can use a rosemary-salt blend to rub your bird, or finely chop and combine fresh rosemary with butter and rub that on your bird. Whole sprigs can also go straight into the cavity of the bird. Rosemary roasted potatoes are also a delicious side dish.
You might already have rosemary, either creeping or upright, in your landscape. If you don't, and would like to grow some, you should! Rosemary is very easy to care for. It prefers 6-8 hours of sunlight per day and thrives in our warm climate. Rosemary likes dry soil - so be sure not to overwater and let the soil dry out between waterings.
Thyme
Thyme is a popular herb to combine with poultry, but this lemony herb also goes well in baked goods. You can rub some thyme on your bird, throw some sprigs inside the cavity, or even toss some thyme into your piecrust dough.
Much like rosemary, thyme can make a great decorative accent in your garden. Many gardeners believe that the flavor of thyme improves the more it is neglected - meaning poor soil and little water suit thyme just fine.
Sage
Sage complements pork very well. It also adds a savory flavor to browned butter, and who doesn't love sage stuffing?
There are many types of sage, and not all of them are edible. These varieties are all edible: garden, purple, tri-color, golden and common sage. Another giveaway for edible sage is the botanical name "salvia officinalis." Sage prefers full-sun and is drought-tolerant once established. It prefers well drained soil and does not like to have wet roots.
Harvesting and Storage
As far as harvesting goes, you can cut sprigs of rosemary, thyme and sage as needed to use fresh, or you can cut and hang sprigs to dry. Once dry I do recommend removing the needles or leaves from the stem and putting them in a jar or bag of some sort, as no one likes dusty herbs!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
If it looks like a bee, sips nectar like a bee, and buzzes away like a bee, that doesn't mean it's a bee.
Last weekend we visited a Fort Bragg nursery specializing in succulents, and these "little white bees" were all over the red flowering thyme (Thymus serphyllum).
"Little white bees." That's what nursery personnel and visitors called them.
Not bees, though. Wasps.
But both in the order Hymenoptera.
Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, identified it as a sand wasp, genus Bembix, probably B. americana.
"These wasps fly very rapidly and frequently visit flowers," Thorp said.
Being a wasp, it's a predator and a carnivore, not a vegetarian like the honey bee. It preys upon flies, hover flies (aka flower flies or syrphids), tachinid flies, lacewings, and other critters, taking the carcasses back to its ground nest to feed its larvae.
The sand wasp digs its nest holes in the sand, thus its name. Its abdomen looks something like a basketball referee: except instead of black and white stripes, it sports curvy black and white stripes.
Bug Guide indicates that North America is home to 19 species of sand wasps.
This one (below) seemed to be sipping nectar (adults feed on nectar).
Probably a "matter of thyme" before it nailed a fly.
![Sand wasp on red flowering thyme. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Sand wasp on red flowering thyme. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/7737.jpg)
![Abdomen of sand wasp: note the black and white curvy stripes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Abdomen of sand wasp: note the black and white curvy stripes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/7739.jpg)