Tarragon again.

[Ricard with an H]

I caught up with a short thread relating to tarragon but it didn't largely relate to my question.

Should this plant be kept in a green house or cold frame other than at the hight of summer ?

I've been desperate from fresh tarragon for years, I finally have some tiny plants that are growing but they look scary-slow.

I've read whats available on the internet though i'm hoping someone here has a few answers to keeping it going in this wet-and-windy-green-and-pleasant land.

I just want to bring it indoors and give it love.

[Monika]

Certainly outside during the summer. Richard. If you are lucky and it doesn't get too cold it might even survive in the ground (not in a pot) outside over winter.

French tarragon (much tastier than the Russian kind) is more tender than Russian.

[FelixLeiter]

There seems to be several strains of tarragon in circulation, some of which taste better than others, and some of which are more vigorous and / or hardy than others. The two don't necessarily go hand-in-hand: the hardier types tend not to be as flavoursome as the tender sorts. The one I grew most recently I grew from cuttings rooted from tarragon I bought as a fresh herb in the supermarket. It roots extremely easily. It proved not to be hardy, not coming through the winter. However, it did grow vigorously outside through the summer. When I want to grow it again, I'll go through the same process: root from cuttings of supermarket in the spring, and grow it through the summer more or less as an annual, with little expectation of it overwintering. Many years ago I kept a pot of tarragon that I nurtured under unheated glass. I was slow growing, quite weedy, but it had good flavour. Not as good as the supermarket sort, though, I have now found.

Do not grow Russian tarragon, which isn't tarragon at all, and is awful.

[Ricard with an H]

Ahh-thanks, not much point in trying to keep it as a perennial then.

I always over recent years managed with dried tarragon but always have this yearning for fresh-french tarragon. I bought six small rooted plants from Marshalls because I haven't seen any in the Co-op where I mostly go. We do an M&S in H-West but it's a 30 round trip. Next time i'll check for tarragon in M&S.

I read there is a shortage because of weather and I have gathered I need to keep it in the sun all day, just as well it's in pots Eh.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I find it doesn't usually get through a very cold winter if left in the herb bed , so I dig up the plants and pot them up to over-winter in the cold frame or greenhouse and they do fine.

[Ricard with an H]

Thats what I wanted to hear so i'll accept the challenge.

Do you know I have never even had lavender survive a winter, thats what a dumbkopf I am. But I am determined so I bought another ten plants and have managed to resist watering them even in this hot weather.

Last winter I grew mixed salad, spring onion, rocket and radish in my cold frame but it's about a foot high at it's highest.

My tarragon is still tiny so I daren't use any pickings for maybe another month, let's hope M&S have some.

[Westi]

I grow both types - the Russian overwinters a treat so get my taste buds tickled early but it is a bit of a brute & tries to escape the herb bed & you really must cut off the flowering spikes before they open. The French I start from seed in the greenhouse.

Personally I don't really mind which one & can't tell much of a difference if you take the smaller leaves off the Russian but if they get too big it is a bit course!

Westi

[FelixLeiter]

The French I start from seed in the greenhouse.

French tarragon is sterile and does not set seed. It is propagated by division or from cuttings. Some seed companies sell seed labelled as French tarragon, but it isn't.

[Ricard with an H]

Some seed companies sell seed labelled as French tarragon, but it isn't.

Shame on them.

It's not difficult to find this information on the internet. It took me around 30 seconds after reading your post to learn that we cannot grow French tarragon from seed and then I realised it was the reason I bought plug-plants.

I'm so relaxed these days I forget what day it is.

I have been looking for French tarragon seed since early last year, this year Marshalls made it clear in their catalogue that genuine French Tarragon is propagated from cuttings and division. I also ordered lemon grass which didn't turn up because the supplier didn't supply.

I know this is serious digressing but they had debited my credit card four months previously. I'm fairly sure they are not allowed to do this and it isn't difficult to debit on the day of despatch, yes, they had held my card details.

I don't like buying from Marshalls, their communication and operating structure is poor compared to the nursery I bought my sea buckthorn and lavender.

[Westi]

I grew my lemon grass from the shop bought stuff. Have a good look at it in the pack & if it has the base intact (& sometimes you even get a root or two) go for it. I just put mine in some water first and when the roots started put it in some fairly gritty compost & just potted it on as needed. It does get popped in the greenhouse if very cold but has been accidently left out before now. It is slow growing though - this is about 2 1/2 yrs old & I do pull the odd stalk but they are tiny but not fibrous so use the lot. If it gets through this winter I'll be putting it in a sheltered spot direct into the soil for next summer as think it needs moving on again>

Westi

[Ricard with an H]

Thanks for that Westi.

I have had lemon grass from the local Co-Op but never noticed if it was root-able. In fact I would have assumed it wasn't because it tends to be hard-trimmed.

Once-again swerving to one side, I have found that it's easier to buy chives from Lidle for 99 pence with each pot producing four decent plants. They seem to grow chives on a bit of sand. It doesn't work for me. I did try.

Tarragon shot up an inch or two over the last few days of intense sunshine and lot's of water, i'm treating it the exact opposite of my lavender plants which got nothing and are looking good.

[FelixLeiter]

I don't like buying from Marshalls, their communication and operating structure is poor compared to the nursery I bought my sea buckthorn and lavender.

I gave up on Marshalls a few years ago, mostly because they're so expensive. The economics of home-growing is complex. But whichever way you look at it, forking out too much for vegetable seeds rather takes the gilt off the gingerbread when it comes to growing my own. What they are good at, though, is sourcing stuff that is the Real McCoy. I remember now from a gardening colleague that they got their tarragon from Marshalls and it is a robust strain that has really good flavour. Same for their mint, Blundell's Mint. Mind you, this variety is grown by the acre for commerce so there are probably cheaper sources.

[Ricard with an H]

I also bought mint plants but it wasn't the Blundells, I think the one I chose was apple-mint but I chose in desperation because I haven't sampled mint for many years that is as good as the mint my brother used to grow 60 years ago. How would I know what that was.

My neighbour offered me some mint roots, I grew it, yes it was mint but it didn't hit the spot.

My kitchen gardening hardly has any economic outcome, it's more to do with hobby-growing. On an economic basis my time would be better spent on more maintenance to our home and right now i'm getting behind again. I don't see the point in allowing window frames to rot to the point of replacement and to look through foggy glazing so I can sit on my bum watching lettuce grow.

I'm very much looking forward to cooking some chicken or making some nice soup using fresh tarragon and the smell of sweet peas in my kitchen is a fabulous summer treat. I'm looking forward to fresh-young broad beans in my salad and my own grown tomato with garlic from garden though growing tomato regularly will require further investment for a greenhouse.

[Geoff]

I bet you aren't debating what to wear this week!
We have been growing an imaginatively named Chocolate Mint for the last few years that we thought might be a good addition to Pimm's. Now we've finally got the weather we've planned a Pimm's and Strawberries do this weekend so we'll see.
I overwinter a big pot of Tarragon in an an almost frost free shed then usually put it back outside. This year I have put it at the end of a path in the tunnel and it has romped away. It has set me thinking about making some planters for the end of each path to grow herbs in.

[Ricard with an H]

I bet you aren't debating what to wear this week!

Hmmmmm, something bizarre happened on Saturday or sunday. I'm outside in shorts and showing off my small collection of shirts from Maui a few years back, outside temperature was around 15 with a clear sky. All of a sudden a sea mist rolls in over the hills and an easterly breeze picked up which might have been a sea-breeze and i'm back in long pants and fleece jacket with a fleece cap. I don't think it dropped as low as 10 degrees but it was cold and I was grumpy.

Making planters is a good idea, we're now committed to clay pots or clay anything. It's so expensive and small ones dry out far to quickly so i'm looking at between £14 and £20 for the most suitable sizes once a plant get's big enough to be moved out of my 'proving area' or 'quarantine area'.

Here is my tarragon, I got the plugs about three weeks ago. And here is an example of the clay pot I buy at £20 each, I don't have many choices for supply so I don't know if thats dear or stunningly cheap.