Herbs

Kitchen Garden

If I say to grow mint, you think spearmint. It is the most common, however, there are many other types of mints to grow in your kitchen garden. Here is a list:

  1. Banana mint with the smell and taste of bananas.
  2. I have grown chocolate mint which has the smell of chocolate. Bright green leaves with reddish stems.
  3. English mint has a sweet, strong flavor.
  4. Apple mint which is also called pineapple mint with an after taste of apple.
  5. Lavender mint is more ornamental than flavor in its use. The purple flowers look and smell like lavender.
  6. Spearmint is the most common mint. Also called lamb mint because it is used in lamb and potatoes dishes.
  7. Pennyroyal mint is known in the Roman Empire. It is a creeper so can be grown in hanging baskets.
  8. Corsican mint native to Corsica has small round leaves and fragrant flowers. It was grown next to other vegetables to enhance their flavor. It is used in the drink crème de menthe.
  9. Orange or bergamot mint has a citrus-flavored leaf.
  10. Catnip is preferred by the local cat because of the compound nepetalactone which causes many cats to go crazy.

There are over 7500 varieties of mint in the family Lamiaceae. Easy to grow, however, it can be invasive if not controlled. Easy to grow on the kitchen windowsill to use fresh in your cooking. Outside it prefers sun but can be grown in part shade. It likes to be moist.

Evergreen Trees & Shrubs

Winter Damage on Evergreens

Remember the winter damage on evergreens last spring? Winter injury is not caused by merely being cold. It is caused by cold winds and winter sun drying out the needles on mainly the south and west side of the tree. The condition is aggravated by winter thaws and getting cold again. This can also injure the roots of newly planted evergreens.

To help your evergreens thru this rough time, there are a couple of things we can talk about. Do not prune unless you are afraid of that branch coming down on the house in an ice storm.

The most important thing to do is slow water each tree before the soil freezes up. Since evergreens transpire moisture year long, it is important to have moisture in the soil. This is especially true for plants close to the house that does not get normal moisture.

If you are trying to grow broadleaf evergreens, wrap the shrub with burlap to cut down on winter transpiration.

For newly planted trees, mulch with 3 to 4 inches of straw or hay after the ground freezes. This helps insulate the soil, so it stays frozen to prevent the soil heaving. Keep the mulch away from the trunk to prevent rodent damage.

Fruit trees and fruit shrubs

Frost Cracks

We now know how to care for evergreens in the winter to prevent needle kill. What about trees that lose their leaves? If there are winter thaws during January and February, this can cause frost cracks going down the trunk especially on newly planted trees and thin bark trees like red maples.

Frost cracks are caused by the sap beneath the bark to thaw and rapidly freeze again went the night temps fall. The moisture in the sap will explode causing a vertical crack going down the trunk. If you are close at the right time, you can hear the exploding crack. In the spring when the tree leaves out, this crack can cause a problem with the health of the tree.

Prevention is the main step in preventing this condition. Start by placing a mulch down after the ground freezes to prevent the soil from warming up in mid-winter. By not mulching until the ground freezes also prevents rodents seeking out the mulch as a home.

As the trees get mature and the bark thickens and the branches grow and start to shade the trunk, frost cracking becomes less of a problem. Especially for young trees like fruit trees and maples, wrap the trunk with paper or plastic spiral wrap (this is reusable year after year).