With dill as the herb of the year, it is a good idea to start planting it in the garden soon.  Be sure to plant lots of its wonderful familial relatives such as parsley, fennel, lovage, cilantro, and chervil. Now is also a good time to start planting other cool season plants such as kale, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, chard,  spinach, lettuce, collards, mustard, turnips, beets, and such. Stick some of these into your flower beds for interest. ‘Redbor’ and ‘Winterbor’ kales with their dark purple or soft green leaves look great with pansies, snapdragons, calendulas, dianthus, chartreuse lettuces,  parsley and cilantro – the bonus is  you can eat them too!
Don’t forget that fall is also a great time to plant trees, shrubs, and bulbs. Roses are one of my favorite group  of herbs, and I’d recommend the following varieties: ‘Mutabilis,’ ‘Carefree Beauty,’ ‘Mrs. B.R. Cant,’ ‘Maggie,’ ‘Cecile Brunner,’ ‘Marie Pavie,’ ‘Cramoisi Superieur,’ ‘Madame Antoine Mari,’ ‘Belinda’s Dream,’ ‘Knockout,’ ‘Nacogdocehes,’ ‘Martha Gonzales,’ and, oh, the list could go on until your eyes started to glaze over.  Yes, you can have your roses and eat them too!

Thanksgiving is a good time to get your sweet pea seeds in the ground.  If your looking for a suggestion, my favorite  is an old variety named ‘Painted Lady.’ She has pink and white flowers, blooms early,  for a long time and is particularly fragrant.

Post me a comment and let me know some of your favorites!

Washington County, home to our ranch and bed and breakfast, is incredible year round but is particularly known for its’ spring wildflowers and breathtaking views. We recently spied these painters on the side of the road enjoying the views and painting opportunities provide by our fabulous spring displays. Benjamin Knox has a gallery in College Station and Cowboyhas a gallery in Somerville. Their trusty black lab was along for the adventure!

The monthly market day of our local CSA held at Home Sweet Farmsin Brenham TX produced some amazing tidbits to enhance our Foodie Cooking Class at the B&B.   Some if the procured items included pastured duck, fresh raw yogurt, wild honey and fresh Brussels sprouts!  Eat fresh, raw and local any time you can!

The ponds froze up this year during the big freeze of January 2010!  We haven’t seen this in  years.  The gardens took the brute force of the below freezing temperatures that lasted for several days, looking worse for wear (even though we covered and clamped down and lit up with lights to help keep them warm!).  Those that have not survived the big chill will be replaced with a new and different specimen.  This is  our opportunity to  venture out with something new and experiment.  The freeze is a definite bonus for us with bugs in that it depletes the numbers and knocks them back to a more manageable level for  us.  When the ranch goes years without a major freeze, it allows the bugs to multiply and winter over creating more work for us with each succeeding year!….especially for those of us who are mostly organic gardeners!  Looking forward to Spring, the wildflowers at the B&B and excited to see what comes back in  our gardens!

Speaking of Fall, now is the time to plant herbs and flowers. Culinary herbs such as dill (herb of 2010), fennel, parsley, caraway, coriander/cilantro, celery, chervil, and lovage. There are also many ornamentals such as bishop’s weed, Queen Anne’s lace, and laceflower.  Vegetables such as carrots, beets, turnips, and  parsnips obviously belong here too.   I also sprinkle in seeds of tri color swiss chard for their beautiful and edible foliage,  sugar snap peas and baby lettuces for a quick harvest.There are also medicinal plants such as angelica – of which  the Chinese variety (Angelica polymorpha var. sinensis)  does best here (zone 9) - in part shade. It is biennial and can reach 8 to 10 feet when blooming! Angelica, by the way, is a historically important plant that was used to treat a variety of ailments and gives its characteristic flavor to the liqueur Benedictine. One member of this family which you should truly avoid growing is poison hemlock. It can be mistaken for parsley and is quite lethal – just ask Socrates if you don’t believe me.  As a important and fun experience, most of these plants are great larval host plants for many butterfly species!Get on  your gloves, get out your spade and get digging!  The reward is far greater than the work involved….