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Double-duty herbs are great in the garden

Grow some for you, some for the beneficial insects

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED MAR 11, 2021

Rosemary is flowering now. The herb is super for

cooking all kinds of dishes. The sturdy stems also

are great to use for barbecuing meat

or vegetable kebabs. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

While planting that spring and summer garden, don't forget to tuck some herbs in and around the vegetables and annuals.

The best herbs to grow, I believe, are the ones I think of as "double-duty" plants. They can be used in cooking and teas, but they also serve as enticements for beneficial insects.

"Beneficials" include some pollinators, such as bees, but they also include good bugs that fight the nasty ones. These include lady beetles, hoverflies, damsel bugs, green lacewings and parasitic mini wasps. (There's a full UCCE master gardener Garden Note just on beneficial insects .)

My focus here is the herbs to plant now, before the weather warms up and the bad bugs go to town on your young plants. Other than basil, which grows easily from seeds, I've found that transplants work best when starting these herbs.

Two important notes:

-- You have to let some of the herbs flower. The insects want the pollen and nectar from the blooms, though flowering ("bolting") turns some herbs bitter and unusable in cooking. Decide which plants will be for the insects and which ones for your use -- say, two varieties of basil for the bees, one Genovese basil for your pizzas and pesto.

-- Though this is unlikely if you're planning to consume the herbs yourself, pesticide use is not recommended on the plants. All the insects, good and bad, could be killed. Use a blast of water on the plant if the aphids get too thick. Otherwise, let the lady beetle and her buddies handle the job.

Top double-duty herbs:

Basil -- Ocimum basilicum . One of the easiest herbs to grow in our climate. Some of the purple basil varieties are especially good for attracting beneficials.

Borage -- Borago officinalis. This tough little herb has blue flowers and blooms all season. The leaves and the flowers are edible. Blogger and cookbook author Hank Shaw has a great post about cooking with borage .

Chamomile -- Anthemis tinctoria . Darling little white flowers, and a popular plant for making tea.

Cilantro -- Coriandrum sativum. Around Sacramento, cilantro tends to bolt as soon as the weather warms. So let it. Many beneficials will love the little flowers.

Dill -- Anethum graveolens. This herb often gets planted near tomatoes. It also bolts in hot weather, so let it, and feed lacewings, parasitic mini-wasps and lady beetles.

Fennel -- Feniculum vulgare . The pollen is a gourmet cook's delight. Insects like it, too.

Lavender -- Lavandula ssp . Many varieties available, and one of the best bee magnets in early spring. In cooking, it's great for flavoring things like cookies, jam and lemonade.

Mint -- Mentha ssp. This is actually a large plant family, but "mint" tends to refer to peppermint and spearmint. Many flavoring mints are invasive, though, so keep them in a container.

Rosemary -- Rosmarinus officinalis . Another easy-to-grow herb in our area, it's a great cooking and barbecuing herb. It flowers in spring; my bush is covered with periwinkle-color blooms right now.

Sage -- Salvia ssp . This family as a whole is great in our region. Look for the culinary sage; its flowers aren't as showy as some of its relatives, but it is quite hardy.

Thyme -- Thymus vulgaris . Good for sunny, dry soils. Lacewings, hoverflies and lady beetles all like this.

For more information on herbs, see this list of culinary herb profiles and other Sacramento County master gardener resources . For more on attracting beneficials, see this post at farmerfred.com.

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Keywords:

UCCE master gardeners Sacramento basil cooking lavender spring planting insects Mediterranean climate gardening bees herbs beneficial insects pollinators

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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