Love butterflies? Plant some herbs.

Herbs draw all kinds of butterflies and are host plants (main food source) to several.

Host plant? Dill in this case.

This is a  Swallowtail caterpillar chowing down on the last of the dill in this container.

They are piggish caterpillars and will demolish your umbel family herbs, but they are truly gorgeous butterflies.

I just plant extra herbs. Some for me, some for them. It works out nicely.

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Here are a bunch of little orange skipper butterflies on mint flowers.  I count five in this picture alone, but the peppermint bed is nearly 50 feet long so you can imagine how many of these little guys flit around in there.

Whenever I water they will all fly up in an orange cloud and scatter, then flutter back down until they find a spot to feed again. They’ll take little sips of water from droplets on the peppermint leaves with their incredibly long, curly tongues which makes me wonder where they store those things when they fly.

I also get lots of shiny pollinator flies in the mint, but they are not nearly as pretty and entertaining as the butterflies.  I also suspect my blog readers would wonder why I am photographing flies. I mean for all you know  just be just barn flies…and although I have herds of those, too they don’t hang out on things as sweet smelling as mint.

We really don’t need photos of what they do hang out on. Know what I mean? Let’s just stick to our butterflies and herbs.

raised bed out front in the medicinal herb garden. During the warm months this particular raised bed houses lots of Marshmallow and Comfrey.

Marshmallow and Comfrey in Raised Bed

Here you can see the grass and Comfrey in the bed coming back after a long winter…and see how the concrete bed has heaved and moved around from the ice and snow? Ick.

Comfrey is not taken or used internally now, but is still used externally for wounds and healing. I make salves and ointments with the leaves and root. This stuff will reseed and spread like CRAZY and the smallest bit of root will grow a whole new plant. Or twenty.

Comfrey Sprouting!

Yes, the grass has miraculously turned green in the time it took you to scroll down and you can see that last years dried Marshmallow stems or stalks are still standing.

Don’t worry, they will magically have been cut back by the next picture! Marshmallows produce their seeds in a wheel or “cheese” and they have a tendency to reseed all over the place. I use the root and sometimes the leaves for teas…

Marshmallow Stalks Magically Gone

Well, here it is all magically cleaned out and naked. Well mostly…and yes, I know I need to mow now. I also had to go eat some lunch before I finished so you get to see the picture of the bed at about 75% complete. You can see some wayward Comfrey plants that jumped out of the bed and have taken up residence just outside it…

And finally-

Marshmallow Emerging

When you whack down last year’s marshmallow stalks, you find this!

New growth.

It’s so exciting it’s almost overwhelming.  I think I may faint.

OK, I just had to get outside today.

This morning it seemed every time I stuck my head out it rained on me. Hard. In between thunderstorms it was absolutely gorgeous though!

Doubt me? Here is the sky

Gorgeous Sky!

When it cleared off I spent a little time harvesting some young nettles for sauteing and soup-and set some in the shed to dry.

Young Nettles

Nettle is my favorite herb for hay fever season…

Then I went and checked on some little herb seedlings in the greenhouse.

A Few Herb Seedlings

Herb Seedlings in the Lean-to Greenhouse

Everything looked absolutely peachy so I headed back to the house…just in time to get drenched again.

Here is an uber-simple way to start growing herbs early-without a greenhouse and without a lot of snazzy garden gear. Perfect for those of you that garden in cooler (and cold) climates this mini greenhouse is completely portable.

Herb Seedlings in a Tub

Here’s what you need to make your own movable mini-greenhouse/ portable cold frame :

A clear plastic tub-preferably more than 6″ deep for herb headroom

Some containers- or pots. Recycled containers are good.

Potting or seed starting mix or potting soil

Looking through A Seedling Tub

The How To:

Moisten your soil mix, and load up for containers.

Read your seed packet planting instructions and plant seeds according to them!

Place containers in the tub..or tubs.

Set outside on sunny days in a protected area. Prop the lid up, set it sideways on the tub, or take it off altogether-if the weather is warm enough. If you see condensation forming ,it’s too hot in your little greenhouse!

Make sure you give those seedlings some air, or you’ll end up with fungal diseases.

They will dry out in the sun and seedlings do need to be kept moist. Touch the top of the soil-if it feels dry gently water.

Depending on what you planted-you should see seedlings before long.

Bring them in before the temperatures dip in the afternoon. Rinse and repeat!

Recycled Containers In a Tub Mini Greenhouse

It LIVES! Sage in the Snow

A few weeks ago I posted a bit about leaving some pots of Sage out all winter in the snow.

 Several kind and well meaning emails suggested that by leaving my sage outside in pots IN THE SNOW I was  murdering poor innocent plants. I can only surmise they live in warmer climates.

For all the Nay-sayers…See? It did come back!

 I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck.  I’ve never even been on a turnip truck.

 At any rate, you can see that the Sage is back and although it needs a good trim, it’s doing quite well.

The key to overwintering herbs is to know the hardiness zones of both your herbs and your  location before you neglectfully leave your herbs naked in several feet of snow. Admittedly not all herbs can tolerate the kind of abuse I occasionally dish out- but I know which of my herbs will hang tough around here.

So don’t worry.

For those that worry anyway… in all honestly just the herbs that can take the weather and prairie conditions are the only ones I abuse in this way. The rest are coddled and kept tucked in the greenhouse, potting shed, kitchen window, or strewn around the house.