Protect Your Herbs This Winter, Here are 7 ways.

Do you want to have fresh herbs year round but live in an area that has cold, hard winters? You need a way to protect your herbs over winter. I love fresh herbs in all of my recipes so over the years I have tried many overwintering methods and weeded out the ones that just won’t do.

What is Overwintering

Overwintering is the process by which some organisms pass through or wait out the winter, or pass through that period of the year when winter conditions make normal activity or even survival difficult or near impossible. In some cases winter is characterized not necessarily by cold but by dry conditions; passing through such periods could likewise be called overwintering. We’ve talked about overwintering before in our post about overwintering lavender, but herbs require a different technique.

What Herbs to Overwinter

These are my personal favorite herbs to use to use year-round.

• Sweet Basil
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Sage
• Parsley
• Chives
• Cilantro
• Lemon Grass
• Lime Basil
• Thai Basil
• Oregano
• Mint

OK, so we know what overwintering is, and what to overwinter, but how? I thought you’d never ask. Here are 7 overwintering ideas that are tried and true for herbs.

1. Bring Your Herbs Indoors

Every year I empty my biggest pots and load them with my favorite herbs to line inside the house, against my biggest window.

Try to choose pots that don’t have drain holes. If they do have holes then be sure they have a tray to catch the water (there is nothing worse than yellow carpet stains from plant water spillage)

Before you bring the plants inside spray the bugs and dirt gently off the leaves. Don’t water the pots until you have them placed where you you are going to keep them. Pots get really heavy once they are watered, also you don’t want to be sloshing dirty water around your house as you move them into place. Just a word of advice. I would never do something like water a giant pot and then drag it across my brand new carpet creating streaks of wet dirt that my one year old then crawled in. I just couldn’t imagine doing something so silly.

Anyway, on to option two.

2. Build a Cold Frame

Cold frames are so cool! They are a great way to protect your herbs, and keep fresh produce on hand any time of the year. I have made cold frames from wood, straw, and stone, so I feel like I can definitively say which kind works best (for the price). Stone. When in doubt just go with stone.

Here’s why. The straw bed does not last, it can have different weed seed and or chemicals that get into your garden bed and, most importantly, they just don’t look good. Gardens should be aesthetically pleasing; beautiful as well as functional.

Wood beds are my second choice. They do really well but still do not last as long as stone. Because you have to water, the wood is constantly moist which warps and eventually rots the wood. That being said, they still make quite a good option for a cold frame.

3. Mulch Cover

If you live in an area that has cold, but not too cold winters, you can cover your bed with a pile of leaves or straw. When we lived in Utah there were some winters when I covered my herbs with a very thick covering of leaves (at least 24 inches) and I was harvesting Sage, Rosemary and Parsley clear into January. That was with a more mild winter though and none of the very tender herbs made it through.

4. Greenhouse

If you REALLY want to protect your herbs over winter, try a greenhouse. This is the most expensive way to overwinter your plants but it does do the job well.

Greenhouses are temperature controlled so they are the most effective in protecting all types of plants.

This beautiful Hartley-Botanical Greenhouse is the epitome of luxury greenhouse. They are beautiful and well built. But the price tag is a bit much for the average gardener.

5. Protect Your Herbs With an Underground Garden

This is an interesting concept, and one I have yet to try. The idea is to dig your bed down deep enough to use the warmth of the earth to heat your garden.

Cover the top of your garden with greenhouse plastic to allow enough light in for your plants.

6. Keep Plants in a Warm Garage or Shed with a Grow Light.

A warm building is necessary to keep plants from going dormant. Many herbs do not go dormant in the winter so they need to be brought into a warm location with appropriate lighting.

Herbs cannot live without light. Most plants can’t. So you need a good lighting system that will allow your plants to thrive.

I’ve tried many lights over the years. This is my favorite plant light system. Gardener’s Supply Company carries great products for gardeners so it’s no surprise that their lighting system is the best.

7. Thermoblanket

Thermoblankets are used to cover plants for a temporary amount of time. Not all thermos are created equal so be sure to look on the description to make sure it goes to the temperature you need it to. I prefer to cover using several layers of different materials. For example a layer of wool or foam then a layer of frost armor or frost cloth. Frost cloth by itself has never worked for me and I’ve lost thousands of plants by relying solely on one thing.

Conclusion

Whether you have space to bring your plants into your house or you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse, you will be able to protect your plants and have fresh garden herbs for your holiday recipes.

I’m looking forward to using my fresh herbs in my Fresh Herb Inspired Thanksgiving Turkey recipe. And in Holiday drinks like yummy Rosemary Citrus Sips.

Hope you have a fantastic Holiday season with fresh garden produce. Make Life Beautiful!

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