Canadian hibernation is almost over

Oh the anticipation of planting new seedlings to nurture and help grow. I'm getting antsy to do some planting. To satisfy my craving for getting into the soil, I am going to plant some herb seeds. Hopefully that will keep me happy until it's time to plant some veggies.

Any other Canadians wanting to get dirty and plant some seeds??

I can't wait for spring either. I will be starting seeds in March, which will be coming shortly.

glad to see you back, bullfrogbabe!

Good to see all of our prodigal gardeners coming back now that spring is finally on its way!

I'm gearing up to seed start herbs in the next week.

Do you have any favorites herb wise? All the options in the seed catalogs and in the stores are so tempting - and I'm not sure where to start.


So many basil options for example! So hard to choose only one or two of each variety.

This year I'm just planting the basics as far as herbs are concerned:

Sweet Basil
Greek Oregano
English Thyme

... are the 3 that I planted indoors yesterday. I also have Borage, but I will wait to plant that directly in the garden.

It will be nice to have some plants growing in my kitchen for a little while. I miss them.

I really want to set up a perennial herb bed with maybe a few squares for the odd annual or two. I'm having a hard time trying to decide what to plant. I'm interested in making some herbal teas and also trying homemade soap, shampoo and lotion and maybe even some lip balm. Does anyone have any suggestions? I do have rosemary, sage and basil in the house already and some creeping thyme growing outside in a flower bed.

Hi Bullfrogbabe, I've missed you! :hugs:

@ Rolanaj:

I have some perennial herb beds, but I am way south of you. I would say, keep your rosemary in the house. It took me the better part of 10 years to get mine to overwinter outdoors down here.

Basil is an annual, but it's really easy to grow. I was stunned to discover that, actually. I've been trying to grow store-bought starts for YEARS and it always died. This year I direct-planted seed in Mel's Mix and got a bumper crop. *cheering noises*

Thyme is a good candidate. So is sage. Probably any "woody" herb, really. I have no idea how mint would do up there, but if you get it started, be careful, as it can go wild on you. We had chives outdoors in New Hampshire and they did fine there. I planted lavender this year (from a start) for the first time, and am waiting to see if it makes it through the winter.

Megan my lavender is doing great...its still green deep inside when I brush away the snow. There are HUGE lavender farms here close by...so I hope yours makes it!

Honestly, I would feel better if mine had some snow to protect it. It is COLD here right now!

Well....I will cross my fingers for it.

I love lavender I have a bunch of starts I seeded for spring already...I want it EVERYWHERE....

I haven't had any luck with lavender but perhaps I've tried the wrong kinds. I have chives growing everywhere, even some garlic chives which I thought had died out came up last year. I'm thinking I could try some lavender, lovage, horseradish (in a buried pot though), mint (my niece is suggesting chocolate mint she says is smells wonderful) oregano, sage, tarragon (not sure how hardy that is though).

They do the coolest thing with lavender here in France (amongst the many....!) -- they plant huge clumps of lavender just outside doors and windows...then as they pass by, they give a huge sweep with their feet, which makes the wonderful fragrance drift into all the doors and windows.

Blackrose wrote:Oh the anticipation of planting new seedlings to nurture and help grow. I'm getting antsy to do some planting. To satisfy my craving for getting into the soil, I am going to plant some herb seeds. Hopefully that will keep me happy until it's time to plant some veggies.

Any other Canadians wanting to get dirty and plant some seeds??

Hi fellow Canadian girls! I'm starting to think about getting a jumpstart on the spring (and my second year SFG'ing) by starting some seeds indoors. I'm not sure where (and when) to set them up. I liked your set up, Blackrose, and I may try something similar soon. Keep us posted on how it's going with your herbs.

dstubbs wrote:Hi fellow Canadian girls! I'm starting to think about getting a jumpstart on the spring (and my second year SFG'ing) by starting some seeds indoors. I'm not sure where (and when) to set them up. I liked your set up, Blackrose, and I may try something similar soon. Keep us posted on how it's going with your herbs.

I used this site to determine when I'm going to start my seeds and plant out:

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/climzoneveg.htm

This is for Ontario, but it may be similar in your area as I'm in Zone 5a. You may want to see if your province has a similar page on their website. Very handy!

Hi Blackrose and Everyone!

Still lots of snow here and very cold (-32 C and dropping). Can't wait to get things growing here shortly (March for me).

How is your Thyme growing Blackrose? I had tough time with mine last year; like yours it germinated very quickly but would then damp off and die within a few days unless I let it dry out.

I was lucky to get 2 single plants after multiple attempts but then it was August and my growing season was over late September. My herb boxes were too big to bring into the house so we'll see if they overwinter. Thyme is a perennial, right? Most of the other herbs I planted grew pretty nice, but most were annuals, except chives and thyme, so I'll have to start the rest from seed again. To bad I didn't take any pictures of them. They are covered in snow right now but I can see the dill stalks / seed heads sticking out of the snow.

I transplanted my rosemary into a pot (it was in one of my 4x4 SFG boxes) and brought it in for the winter. It survived but is a bit spindly, and I find Mels mix dries very quickly in the house. I am probably not watering it quite enough and there is very short amount of sun.

I like the soil cubers posted, they look pretty slick. I may have to try the mini ones. I have been saving L and XL Tim Horton's cups again for holding the larger transplants. They worked really well for my tomatoes last year. Can place the seedling down low inside cup once started and fill soil up around the stem as it grows up out of the cup. Just peeled the paper cup off and planted them after frost. The cups stand up really well with the taller plants.






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Welcome back bullfrogbabe!

bullfrogbabe wrote:How is your Thyme growing Blackrose? I had tough time with mine last year; like yours it germinated very quickly but would then damp off and die within a few days unless I let it dry out.

It is doing much better in the soil blocks. I had the same trouble with damping off in the little pots I had originally started in. The little basil, thyme and oregano seedlings look nice and strong in the blocks. I'm really glad I purchased them and highly recommend them. Easy and they take up a lot less space!

bullfrogbabe wrote:
I like the soil cubers posted, they look pretty slick. I may have to try the mini ones. I have been saving L and XL Tim Horton's cups again for holding the larger transplants. They worked really well for my tomatoes last year. Can place the seedling down low inside cup once started and fill soil up around the stem as it grows up out of the cup. Just peeled the paper cup off and planted them after frost. The cups stand up really well with the taller plants.

That's a great idea to use Timmy's cups! I may have to start saving them. :idea: