Hello all,

The attached picture shows my little herb garden. I'm very happy that things are growing, but I must admit I don't know what to do next. Do I cut things off? Do I freeze things? Dry things?

From left to right, Basil Dill Oregano Parsley. Several plants/leaves are starting to brown and the like, but that could have been because I had the light down too low.

Thanks for any helpful guidance on this.

Tony

@TonyN1701

Those herbs look great for January My advise is to use them fresh in cooking. But I have also learned that herbs like to be pruned much more than I seem to get done. I love to dehydrate my extra herbs. They last almost forever once dried. I also like to cut my basil and lay flat on a cookie sheet, place in freezer for about half hour, then I put in ziplock and back in freezer for later cooking. Good job, happy cooking

Agreed... they look great. I would trim and make use of them. Not sure of your location but perhaps you may be able to pot them up or move them outside before long.

Hello all...thanks very much for your reply.

Can I get some guidelines on the actual trimming part? That I think is where I need the most guidance. I'm worried about taking too much, or even not enough.

Also, I am in the middle of a Canadian winter, so the herb garden is going to stay right where it is for now...

Tony, You can take a heavy hand to them all. You, of course, will leave some green. All of the leggy parts of the basil can be pinched back to the base leaves. You can easily take 2/3s off the top of the dill and parsley without worry, and it's very hard to do wrong by the oregano.

You'll probably want to add a location and zone to your profile, as should you have gardening questions down the line, that info will prove very useful for anyone who comments.

From my understanding it's best to use them fresh and green, so you can place the planting container they're in whole in a bowl or something to keep them in and fill the container with water and place it in your fridge and just keep topping it off with water and it'll keep them fresher longer, you can also cut them off and freeze them in a freezer bag, or what I like to do is get them when they're really green and bake them and then place them in a repurposed glass jar and then put them off to the side...then I have fresh herb flakes I can use at anytime for my cooking. Your plants look they'd make a great steak rub for sure!