Harvesting Edible Garden Tour - April 21, 2011 + Thriving Thursday = One busy lady

Thriving Thursday falls on Harvesting Edible Garden Tour this month so the Theme is Harvest.  I want to see what is harvesting in your gardens that is edible.  But since it is also Thriving Thursday show off why you are harvesting.  Get ready cause I had a lot this week.

 Parsley - This has been growing since August.  And it just keeps on going.  Thought about moving outside but why mess with it if it is still going so strong.  Poor stems keep getting crush by my sons Chair

Just look at that pile of stems.  I usually cut the stems of of the parsley and dry just the leaves.  They are so fragile.

 Lemon Balm - My herb.  Has grown quite a bit since coming to my house.  Although fits the category of Thriving didn't really need harvesting but since I was taking care of almost all the other herbs inside I added this one to the list.

Not a bad little pile of leaves.

Pesto Basil - One of my favorites.  I love pesto sauce and let me tell you this plant smells just like it.  I have used it when cooking chicken many times.  I love it.

They don't yield a lot of leaves unless you do a lot of little harvests.  But oh the smells in my kitchen at this point.

Lemon Thyme - After the pesto basil this smell just added to it.  My kitchen is making me hungry.  I love the way this herb looks.  Green leaves with a yellow tinted edging.  Makes it easy to see that it is the Lemon Thyme not Common.

Long and compact stems make harvesting interesting.  When I dry these I use a bad that has very very small holes as the leaves fall off very easily.  I actually lost a lot to the dirt in the harvesting process.

Oregano-Thyme.  Grows like Thyme has a bit of an Oregano smell to it.  A new herb to my garden this year.  Not sure yet of the taste but the smell is wonderful.  It isn't a strong Oregano smell like Common Oregano is.

As the harvest went on the difference between Thyme and Oregano smells was harder to find.  It does smell a bit like both.  Course after that Lemon Thyme and Pesto Basil it is dull smelling.

Rosemary - This is one of those herbs I have been trying to grow from seed but just can't seem to get past the first 2 sets of leaves.  So I bought this one.

Super easy to harvest and a very gentle and pleasant smell.

Marjoram - The variegated coloring of this herb is what drew me in.  This is much like the Rosemary in that it is another herb I keep trying to start from seed and don't get very far.

Didn't need a lot of trimming but got quite a bit more than expected.

English Thyme - Just plain old ordinary Thyme basically.  Every time I harvest I think I should smell Lemons as it looks just like it....other than the edges.

This guy is having a few issues in that it is loosing a lot of leaves to the dirt so it got a lot more harvested than needed to encourage new healthy growth.

Winter Savory - Not sure how much longer this guy will be around.  As there are 2 main types of Savory...winter and summer.  Not sure if that means they are only good for that season or if it is just the way they grow.  Winter Savory does seems to be a little thicker than Summer Savory.

Like the English Thyme this was starting to loose a lot of leaves.  Although it may be because of this season I cut a lot off to encourage new healthy growth.  Fingers crossed.