Catnip Plugs

I made a flying visit to the greenhouse today because there were left over plug trays from last week’s delivery that I wanted to get planted before tomorrow’s delivery. There were only three, so it was quick work. I planted fennel, catnip and the mystery rumex. Only 2 flats of the rumex. I’m not sure how popular it will be. Spring Flower Fair is a fundraiser, so we want to sell all of our plants with few or none over.

Then it was out to the herb garden to do some weeding. I don’t normally weed in March because it is so cold but this year has been unusually warm. It has also been raining the past couple of days so weeds are easy to pull and get the whole root. The more weeds I pull now, the fewer I will have to deal with in the summer.

White Horehound

Despite our warm winter, the rosemary is dying. This is very disappointing. I planted it last year and the young plants seemed to grow very well. The rest of the herbs wintered over nicely. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the golden sage made it. It is only hardy through zone 7. New Jersey is zone 6. The Rutgers Gardens herb garden is protected by a surrounding hornbeam hedge which creates a micro-climate so tender plants will sometimes survive if the winter is mild. The white horehound did especially well. It will be much bigger this year. I may have to consider dividing it in the spring.