THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603080110
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT STIFFLER, GARDENING COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, too much salt, low sodium. Boosted by those phrases, the trend toward cooking with fresh herbs has skyrocketed.
Cooks turned away from salt and looked to herbs for seasoning. Often, however, they found that fresh herbs were expensive and hard to find at the grocery stores.
Many gardeners attempted to grow their own, their efforts sometimes yielding only frustration. They composted, they mulched, they watered.
They did all those things that herbs resent.
Many herbs are native to the Mediterranean area and like sandy, gritty, dry soil. They thrive on inattention.
``Herbs prefer to be too dry instead of too wet,'' says Peggy Watts, owner of Rivershore Herbs and Flowers in Elizabeth City, N.C. ``Most people overwater them. I've lost more to root rot than to lack of water.''
Watts, who started growing herbs in 1980 and now sells wholesale to local garden centers, says she won't sell any plants until she has raised them and can give proper growing instructions.
Her two most popular herbs are rosemary and basil, both easy to grow in this area. Rosemary is a perennial and basil an annual.
She also grows Bergamott sage, because it's not as strong as garden sage and preferred by many who use it in cooking.
Of the more than 100 varieties of herbs in Watts' garden, salvias are her favorites.
``There are so many colors,'' she says. ``I have a new one that came from an unidentified cutting.'' It's a self-seeding pink variety, which she's named Jane's Salvia for her friend, Jane Staples, owner of Bracy's Books in Elizabeth City.
Another favorite is pink pineapple sage which came from The Thyme Garden in Oregon.
Salvia leucantha, a decorative perennial grown for its flowers, is a popular plant for home gardens today but often difficult to winter over. Watts says not to cut it back until spring. Mulch the roots heavily in the fall, and it should winter over except during harsh winters.
``I also like to grow lavender because it's such a trial,'' acknowledges Watts. ``I've found that it grows best in broken cement, with a pile of compost under the cement.'' She simply sets the plants in compost and surrounds them with chunks of old, broken-up cement.
Watts uses no commercial fertilizer, preferring goat bedding. She gets the used straw and hay from local barns. ``Any kind of barn bedding will work,'' she says.
Watts' herb growing is but a small part of her huge Elizabeth City garden along Rivershore Road. She also has seven huge pecan trees. ``But I only get a crop of pecans about once every three years,'' she adds.
Homeowners who have problems getting pecans to produce should be comforted by knowing that even professional gardeners don't get good harvests every year. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ROBERT STIFFLER
Peggy Watts, owner of Rivershore Herbs and Flowers in Elizabeth
City, grows more than 100 varieties of herbs.
KEYWORDS: WEEDER'S DIGEST by CNB