On 9/11/2009 1:11 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
How do I prune or deadhead? Herbs

I planted sage, thyme, parsley, basil, mint, oregano.

And hardly ever use them!! By the time I remember, I'm
through with the tomato sandwich, e.g.

How much can I, should I, prune to stop these herbs
from roaring away?

I don't want them to go to seed, so will offer some to
neighbors, but it's hard to coordinate schedules.

Your advice appreciated.

Hypatia

I have all of these (except parsley) and more (sweet bay, rosemary,
tarragon, dill). The rosemary is in the ground; it's about 30 years old
and taller than I am. All the others are in 12-inch flower pots.

Basil and dill are annuals. They will die with the first frost if not
before. There is no point in trimming them. My dill is long gone while
we still have temperatures in the 90s and 100s, but I harvested a good
crop. Even if you don't use it, pick the flower buds from the basil.
It will prolong its life. Also the buds tend to be bitter and detract
from the flavor of the leaves.

Parsley is a biennial. It dies at the end of its second year. Other
than that, I know nothing about it.

Sage can be trimmed, but be very careful. You must leave new shoots
already growing below each cut. Otherwise the cut stem will die back to
its base.

I groom my thyme to keep it looking nice. But it doesn't really require
trimming.

I trim the mint to keep it from reaching the ground. Mint can be very
invasive.

I shear the flower buds from the oregano. Otherwise, it will drop
seeds. Oregano is almost as invasive as mint.

The tarragon dies down each winter. Then I cut away all the dead
growth. In the late winter or early spring, it resprouts from the roots.

In the ground, sweet bay can become a large shrub or a small tree. With
it growing in a flower pot, I constantly trim it so that it does not
outgrow the ability of its confined roots to keep it alive. I try to
remove old growth and keep new shoots. In a nearby public garden, three
sweet bay growing in the ground are sheared into formal cylinders.

Rosemary has the same pruning problem as sage: If you don't leave green
growth below the cut, the branch will die. Because the branches on my
rosemary are beautifully twisted and gnarled, I remove lower growth to
expose the branches.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary