Drying Herbs

August 30, 2009

Howdy Deb,

When is the best time to harvest herbs for drying? Is it before, during,

> or after flowering each year?

>

Probably the ideal is before they flower .. at least that is what all the

so-called experts will say .. like here

We try to go along with that but we've done it otherwise .. as we could ..

for years. Might not be getting the best results by doing it that way but

the results are not bad.

We have more of most all herbs than we need so its not possible to

continuously harvest to preclude flowering .. and some of them will flower

and then bolt to seed rapidly depending on the weather .. heat and dry

conditions can force this to occur.

What I am saying is .. if you miss that window of opportunity .. still dry

them.

Gardening by the book can sometimes be too restrictive and can preclude new

learning experiences .. like nobody plants sweet corn here in August .. but

we did. We harvested our Peaches & Cream sweet corn in July and in early

August I planted again. Odds are maybe 35% or so that we'll get a harvest

before frost but if we don't get one .. we've lost maybe $1.50 worth of corn

seed.

And .. in late June I planted two Raspberry bushes .. they were no more than

8 inches high .. not the best time to plant them says the experts cause its

during or after when they should be flowering .. but within 60 days we were

taking 15-20 Raspberries a day from those two bushes .. they are healthy and

growing madly and next year we should get 5 gallons from those two bushes.

They are not ever bearing Raspberries .. they should have produced from June

through August .. but they are still full of blooms. ;-)

> Thanks, Deb

>

Welcome for sure .. y'all have a good one .. and keep smiling. :-)

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