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Any advice for saving herbs from frost?

November 12th, 2006 at 03:49 pm

This year was my first foray into gardening. What a joy it has been-- but I have a lot to learn.

We've had a few frosts here and most of my plants (ie impatients, sedum, begonia) have died. I have two large perrenial herbs-- (sage and oregano) that seem to still be doing OK. Any idea of how much longer I can expect the herbs (espcially the sage) to be OK outside? I'm in plant hardiness zone 6a if that helps. Maybe I should be pre-emptive and start drying some? Any advice on the best way to do this? I also have a small rosemary plant growing outdoors that I was thinking about transferring to a pot and bringing indoors. Do you think this will work? I love fresh herbs, but they can be pricey at the store.

Posted in Cooking | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Any advice for saving herbs from frost?”

  1. tinapbeana Says:
    November 12th, 2006 at 04:33 pm 1163349182
    1163349182

    i would definitely start drying some, just in case. rosemary is an ever green and i'm guessing it'll be find during the winter, but the sage & oregano i'm not sure about. could you possibly transplant some of those into smaller pots and bring them inside for the winter?

  2. janH Says:
    November 12th, 2006 at 05:39 pm 1163353180
    1163353180

    Contrary1 has a website Frugal Gardening. She might have information there that you are looking for or a way to answer questions. You could also go to her blog and ask after her entry. She'll answer you.

  3. threebeansalad Says:
    November 12th, 2006 at 07:49 pm 1163360971
    1163360971

    Great advice!! Thanks so much! I'm looking forward to reading the frugal gardening site in more detail. "Dead" wasn't the correct work for the sedums.. I should have said "done for this season". My impatients were doing great in the wondow boxes, I loved having them outside and kept hedging my bets until one one morning I woke up to find them frozen. Poor little guys!

  4. baselle Says:
    November 13th, 2006 at 12:39 am 1163378357
    1163378357

    Sage is supposed to be good to zone 4. That is, if you have the sturdy culinary type - salvia officinalis. If you've a foofoo type of sage - pineapple, purple, tricolor - the pretty inbred stuff, that will go in the first frost.

    But you do want to trim your herbs back a bit and blanket them with leaves. Great for you, because the branches and leaves you'll get will make everything fabulous.

  5. LuckyRobin Says:
    November 13th, 2006 at 12:58 am 1163379482
    1163379482

    My sage and oregano have been going strong for 7 years and my rosemary for 5. The coldest temps we've had were 9 degrees F, with a windchill of -17 and they survived that. Mine are out in the open and I've never done anything to protect them. I'm in zone 7a. If you are really worried, try insulating them with branches from evergreens. I do that to my strawberries every year and they come back very well.

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