Herb Garden 2 (inactive)

And I have laid my second herb garden to rest.  This was planned - I'm leaving the country for six weeks (work plus vacation), so I knew this garden had an end date.   Just in time too; I had an infestation of white flies. I have no idea how they even got in the house.  I've started drying some of the herbs (oregano, thyme, sage, chives) as that will make a nice herb blend.  I made one last batch of pesto ... and ate it all straight from the bowl.  

Work has been insane the past few months, so I haven't had time to cook and experiment as much.  I mostly used the traditional herbs that I could just cut and sprinkle on whatever I was eating.

I planted fewer herbs between the two gardens, in order to give each more space.

The run-down:

Genovese Basil - The fastest grower and most prolific.  I did a better job of keeping it under control this round.

Mystery Basil - It was from an AG "Marseille basil" pod, but the leaves were very large.  It looked like pictures I see of "lettuce leaf" basil, but AG doesn't sell that.  The taste was fine, but I like the more prolific Genovese.

Dill - Stayed straggly.  The first round dill grew as fast as the basil.  Odd.

Chives - Similar to dill; didn't produce much.

Thyme - Grew strong.  

Spearmint - Much, much better flavor than the AG mint.   Grew fast, and liked to sprawl.  Required a lot of maintenance! Aggressive roots; I eventually moved it to a pot and it continued to thrive.

Zaatar - It grew, but wasn't as prolific as the first round.

Savory - What happened?  It grew, then flowered and died back.  It grew so well the first time.

Sage - Grew much faster this round.  I've been adding it to everything.

Rau ram - A Vietnamese herb. Wonderful, cool, mint-cilantro scent.  Best fresh.  The leaves are a bit woody, so I don't buy that it is a "cilantro substitute" like some blogs claim.  I've added it to red curry, and to dipping sauces for gyoza.  Is great with pho, but I don't know how to make pho.  I've seen a recipe for Vietnamese cold chicken with rau ram, but I didn't have time to make it.  This also had very aggressive roots, and used a lot of water.  I'll plant it again, but I'll only root the cutting in the AG, then move it to a pot.

I think that's it.  Round Three: sometime in October!