Herbal Notes: Cultured Wildness

Tagetes lucida
aka Texas Tarragon

Usually, when I think of an herb garden, I have visions of lovely knot gardens, an expansive kitchen garden, and sometimes I even see with my mind's eye a medieval monk carefully tending a small plot of land. 

Different scenarios, yes, but always a specific patch, box, or space.

Except where my own garden is concerned. When I say "my herb garden" or "our herb garden", I'm referring to all the herbs growing out there as a collective. They're growing in almost all the raised beds, in pots, and directly in the ground, along the back hedge, and in the welcoming garden. They're all over the place and I couldn't be happier. 

What can I say? I love herbs. I love their fragrance, their usefulness, their history, and their wild beauty. "Wild", you may ask? I think it's the right word. Widely-cultivated as they are, many of our favorite culinary herbs grow abundantly in the wild. 

Mediterranean herbs like lavender, basil, oregano, and rosemary thrive in the dry summers of the Mediterranean coast. They don't like humid conditions. While parts of Texas are dry, southeast Texas is humid year-round. Very humid. All the same, the herbs soldier on. For the most part, well-draining soil and a sunny, open location make these tough plants happy enough.

As of now, our herb garden boasts zataar, marjoram, a few different thymes, a few different basils, culinary sage, and plenty of other sages. There's lemon grass, anise hyssop, lavender, and rosemary, Apple mint is barely contained in a large, raised box.

Speaking of barely contained, one variety of basil is coming up everywhere this year. I think it might be Cinnamon Basil? I'll certainly transplant a few, but we will likely have to pull a great many. For now, I don't mind it any more than I mind purslane.

Purslane, by the way, might be considered a weed by lots of gardeners and even more non-gardeners. But it's an herb and a superfood, rich in omega-3, and delicious in salads. It will attempt to blanket our raised beds throughout the warm season. We'll fight our traditional losing battle against its domination. But as long as it doesn't choke out anything -- and it usually doesn't -- we'll also leave much of it alone. It's just easier that way. It's actually a very efficient green mulch.

It's not even May yet, of course. July will look very different! Ha. I really can't stress that enough. For now, I'm going to hang onto the dazzling image of our garden overflowing with flowers and edibles! 

Happy Gardening!