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Below are 12 commonly asked questions with Sal's expert advice.

I want an herb garden, where do I start?

What herbs are good ones to start with?

I don't have a really sunny location, what herbs can I grow in a shady garden?

I've been growing herbs for a few years, and I'd like to try something new. What is growing in your garden that I might like to try?

When can I plant my herbs in the garden?

There are so many different varieties of some of the herbs (mint, basil, oregano), how do I choose the best one for me to grow?

I've planned my garden, chosen my plants, now how do I care for them?

Rosemary, I can't seem to winter it over, what can I do?

My rosemary has a white powdery covering on the leaves, what is it?

I've heard mint called a 'thug'; that it is so invasive, it will take over the garden. But I love mint, how do you recommend growing mint?

What mints do you recommend?

I've been trying to grow lavenders for years, but they die every winter, which ones are hardy, or what am I doing wrong?

I want an herb garden, where do I start?
Sal: Pick the right location from the start. There are three things to consider; sun, convenience and soil. First, it should be sunny; the more sun the better. Most herbs require a minimum of 8 hours of continuous direct sun to grow, but 12 hours or more during the summer will help them flourish. Second, make sure the location is convenient. Herbs are meant to be used, and if they are close to the kitchen, you'll reach for them when you are preparing a meal. If you have to walk way out back to the end of the yard, you'll either reach for the dry stuff you bought last year at the store or you'll do without, and then the herbs will get overgrown. And third, the soil should be well drained. The easiest way to kill herbs is to have them growing in rich, heavy soil. If you've found the perfect location, but the soil isn't well drained, consider making raised beds for your herbs.

What herbs are good ones to start with?
Sal: Start with the ones you use now in the kitchen. Herbs are meant to be used, not just planted and looked at. Choose a few perennial and a few annuals to get started. The basic culinary herbs, basil, dill, parley, sage, rosemary, thyme, coriander, chives, marjoram, oregano, French tarragon, savory and possibly mint is a good place to start. And maybe a few for their fragrances such as lavender and scented geraniums.

I don't have a really sunny location, what herbs can I grow in a shady garden?
Sal: No herbs do well in deep shade accept the true woodland herbs, but some will survive and do relatively well. Try the mints, parsley, lemon thyme, lemon balm, salad burnet, chervil, sweet cicely, angelica, woodruff, and the woodland plants such as ginseng and wintergreen. Plants grown in shady locations need more room. They tend to stretch, reaching for the sun. Giving them a little extra room prevents them from shading each other. Shady areas also tend to need more lime added to the soil and tend to have wetter soils, so care must be taken so not to over water. Or consider growing your herbs in containers where you can move them around to follow the sun or put them on a deck or front stairs. Most culinary herbs grow very well in containers.

I've been growing herb for a few years, and I'd like to try something new. What is growing in your garden that I might like to try?
Sal: I always suggest that you try growing something that you'd like to try in the kitchen. One of the newer basils is called 'Aussie Sweetie'. It's a smaller leaf variety that can grow 4 foot tall with excellent taste, but what really makes this one a winner is that it never goes to flower. Stevia, the herb that is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar (and no calories), lemon grass to try with Asia cooking, lovage which is terrific with stuffing for Cornish hens, salad burnet, the cucumber tasting herb that shows up early in the garden and is great in salads and oregano thyme. This great perennial thyme has the flavor of both oregano and thyme, and the plant is beautiful too.

When can I plant my herbs in the garden?
Sal: Here in New England, frost can arrive even late into June, and herbs fall into different hardiness categories. The perennial herbs (sage, oregano, thyme) and biannual herbs (parsley) can be planted out in the garden around April 15th, if they have been hardened off. These herbs will withstand both frost and freezing temperatures even when newly planted IF they have been acclimated to the outdoors. The half-hardy perennials (rosemary) and hardy annuals (dill, coriander) can often be planted out in mid to late April. These herbs with withstand frost, but not a deep freeze when young, but these too must be hardened off before planting. Most annuals can be planted out around mid May (our frost free date). But the truly tender annuals (basil, heliotrope, nasturtiums) should not be planted out until nighttime temperatures do not go below 50 degrees, which is after June 1st for our area. Basil cannot be 'hardened off' - it must not be planted out until the temperatures can support it. (These recommendations are based on our experience here in Easton Connecticut (southern New England). Areas farther north or exposed to windy conditions should take extra precautions. Consult with your closest extension service office for the frost free date in your area and plan your planting based on that information)

There are so many different varieties of some of the herbs (mint, basil, oregano), how do I choose the best one for me to grow?
Sal: We, all of us, grow herbs for their flavor and fragrance so we can use then. The flavor and fragrance, which the herb imparts, is from the essential oils that the plant produces, and each plant is uniquely different. The best way to choose is still by smelling and tasting. All of our herbs are grown naturally, so rub a leaf or taste a stem to help you decide which you like best. Herbs from other growers that have been over fed with high nitrogen liquid fertilizers may look full and lush, but they will not have the rich flavor of a naturally grown herb. We don't grow our herbs by the pound. I think you'll be able to tell the difference between Gilbertie's herbs and others.

I've planned my garden, chosen my plants, now how do I care for them?
Sal: Herbs require very little care, but a few points are important. When you go to plant your herbs in the garden, make sure they are well watered before you dig the first hole. And water them as you plant them as well. Once established, most herbs prefer to be on the dry side; more herbs die from over watering than any other cause. When you fertilize, do it lightly and only with organic fertilizers. Dry manures, kelp and natural minerals are all good choices. Herbs that are over fertilized with liquid fertilizers have little fragrance or flavor compared to naturally fertilized herbs. Most herbs prefer warm temperatures, and may be slow to grow until the season really heats up. And lastly, keep the garden as weed free as possible. "A good gardener has a strong back and a sharp hoe". Most herb gardens are not huge gardens, and are relatively easy to maintain. By keeping the garden clean, there will be less opportunity for problems with pests and diseases. I do not recommend using any mulch in an herb garden; it can cause problems with disease and pest control. If you must use a mulch to help maintain moisture and control weeds in a large garden, then the only mulch I would recommend is salt hay.

Rosemary, I can't seem to winter it over, what can I do?
Sal: The best choice is to grow rosemary as a hardy annual (it does fine through the frost).
Unless you have a very cool, very sunny location with good air circulation where you can leave your rosemary for the entire winter, it's better to grow it as an annual in the garden. We winter over our rosemary plants in a greenhouse that will often have ice around the windows because it can go down to 35 degrees overnight in that greenhouse! We move and exchange the air in the greenhouse often, even on cold days. And we don't bring the rosemary plants inside in the fall until after Thanksgiving; rosemary does very well through the frost, and even a few freezes. The exception to this is the prostrate varieties; they are not as hardy as the upright varieties and can get pretty beat up from the first fall freeze, so they must come in earlier. Rosemary does not do much growing when the day length is short anyway, and most problems start on the new growth, such as powdery mildew. The other option is you can try some of the more hardy rosemary varieties that have been selected and leave them in the garden for the winter such 'Hill Hardy', 'Arp' and 'Salem'. These varieties are NOT truly hardy in New England, but some of our customers have been able to winter them in the garden with protection. It should be noted that even when these plants survive the winter, they often take a long time to recover in the spring. I still feel the best choice for most people is to grow their rosemary as a hardy annual.

My rosemary has a white powdery covering on the leaves, what is it?
Sal: It's a fungal disease called 'powdery mildew', and if left untreated, it can eventually kill your rosemary plant. Powdery mildew is air born, and can spread easily to susceptible plants under certain conditions. Sage, bee balm, phlox and lilac are also susceptible plants that you may have noticed powdery mildew on. Rosemary is most susceptible when the plant is in the house or green house for the winter. Try to keep your plants in an area with good air circulation; even put the plants outside on a clear winter day when the temperature is above freezing (just don't forget to bring them in at night). Try not to get the leaves wet when you water and keep the plants in a cool, sunny location when in the house. If the plants do get the disease, all is not lost. A regular spray of insecticidal soap can be very effective in controlling the disease (follow the label directions closely). Or try the remedy recommended by the Herb Society of America: mix 3 tablespoons of baking soda with one gallon of water and spray the entire plant weekly.
The only rosemary that I have found that seems to be more resistant to powdery mildew is the white flowering variety. The leaves are a rich green and the flowers are truly white; a beautiful plant.

I've heard mint called a 'thug'; that it is so invasive, it will take over the garden. But I love mint, how do you recommend growing mint?
Sal: First, I don' like to recommend planting mint in an herbal garden. If you have ten or twelve varieties of herbs in a garden and you put in mint or lemon balm in with them, you know who will win. I really think that mints should be grown in a separate patch somewhere, where spreading out is not a problem, or grown in a container that will confine the roots. The big plastic growing containers that are used for shrubs are easy to obtain now, and they are available in five gallon or even ten-gallon size. If you take one of those, bury it in the ground, leaving the lip up a few inches and plant your mint in that, it will confine the plant for a couple of years. The mint will eventually reach the perimeter of the pot and escape, or its the roots will go down two feet to the bottom of the pot, sneak out the drainage holes and come up again a few feet away from the pot, so be vigilant.

What mints do you recommend?
Sal: I like the smooth leaf spearmint best; it grows very vigorously, has that attractive smooth leaf and has a really good spearmint flavor. The other one that I like is the one we sell as "The Best" spearmint; it is also very vigorous and has a very sweet spearmint flavor. The thing I should point out about mints in general (peppermint and spearmint mostly) is that most bedding plant growers are growing their mints from seed. These seed produced mints have only a mild flavor, nothing like the flavor of mints grown from cuttings; they don't even compare. They look just the same when they are grown side by side, but the flavor gives them away. We grow all our mints from cuttings.

I've been trying to grow lavenders for years, but they die every winter, which ones are hardy, or what am I doing wrong?
Sal: A basic rule of thumb for lavenders; sweet soil makes them more hardy than acid soil. Lavender needs a soil pH of AT LEAST 7.0, but is even happier if it's up in the 7.8-8.4 range, so side dress with lime every year. All the 'angustifolia' and 'x-intermedia' lavenders are hardy here, but they require very good drainage and sweet soil to withstand our wet winters. The first year that these lavenders are planted, they should have a winter mulch applied after the ground freezes to prevent them from heaving out of the ground if the weather warms, but it should not be necessary after the first year. The tender lavenders (multifida, stoechas) often have 'ferny' or 'toothed' leaves. These lovely lavenders are still well worth growing in the garden or even in the house because they bloom almost continuously. They will often bloom in February if they are in a sunny window.