Winter Herb Gardening: Expert Tips & Tricks ❄️🪴

9 hours ago
4 min read

Where I live, we can get a large variability between our lows and highs. Winter means a wild ride for the plants, so we need to be diligent in how we care for them.

Understanding Zone 8 Winter Cycles

I’m in zone 8, which means in January, the lows and highs start cycling between 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Then a cold front with rain comes through, light drizzle to heavy rain for 24 to 48 hours, depending on how fast the wind pushes the front though. The day after the front passes, the temperature range dives between 30’s to 50’s, and then over the next week it starts rising again until the next cold front.

This is how January typically looks for me where I live

As we move into February, the temperatures tend to be lower, lasting for several days. Each year this variably can change up or down, earlier or later in these months. But basically, this is the cycle I see year after year.

Herb Nursery Beginnings

In the past I was giving talks and demonstrations to various groups on how to grow and use herbs in zone 8. The participants asked where they could purchase herbs. At that time, herbs weren’t as popular at the local large garden shops, so I directed them to the few nurseries I knew sold herbs.

This prompted me to start a small herb nursery with not only herbs that were more common, but also herbs that were not. Those who attended my talks were happy to be able to purchase them at these talks and demonstrations!

Extreme Cold Experience

One year we got uncommonly low temperatures below 20⁰. Not only did I have a nursery, but I had set up a small herb garden at Stephen Foster Folk Cultural State Park in White Springs Florida, which was 8 miles from where I lived.

I remember the temperatures had gone down to 18⁰ and in some areas 14⁰. The plants I was growing were cold weather plants, but how cold were they able to tolerate? I had hundreds of plants to monitor in different locations.

Frozen lettuce in hydroponic system after extreme cold temperatures — Frozen lettuce in my floating hydroponic system

Plant Recovery After Frost

I was surprised that so many did so well. A few were burned, but after these very low temperatures passed, I trimmed off the damaged parts and even in the 20's and 30's, they regrew.

At that time, I was still working for University of Florida and was also giving talks and in service training to master gardeners and agents. When I told my supervisor what I had observed on the tolerance of the cold temperatures and which herbs were doing well, he suggested I put together a list of my findings in a handout, which I did. You can get it here.

Seasonal Challenges in Warmer Climates

For those of us in warmer climates, these colder tolerant plants have a harder time making it through the hot summer. But that is a subject for another Herb Talk letter.

I realize some of you who are receiving this letter are in different zones, and my experience is with the hotter zones. I now have a place in North Carolina that we go to in May for the summer, and what I’m finding is that there are several herbs both planted by me, as well as native plants (see my YouTube video on how I collect seeds from native plants) that make it through the zone 7 winter. So I'm gaining more experience in the colder climates, as well.

It appears the weather in Murphy, North Carolina in May is similar to North Florida in March. Warming up with the temperatures dropping on occasion even into the 30's.

Thriving Winter Herb Gardening in Cold Conditions

But even with that, the herbs I planted the year before survived the winter really well. When I saw how great they looked when I got there, I realized they were thriving throughout the coldest temperatures.

Healthy herb garden thriving in Murphy North Carolina winter — My thriving garden in Murphy, NC

My point is, you don’t have to give up growing because the temperatures become cold. Learn which of your favorite herbs and their varieties are actually happy with the cooler weather.

For those of you who are in even colder zones, please share what you are doing to protect your plants for the winter. I would imagine your protection would be some form of cold frame or hot box. I would like to know about your experience.

What are you successfully using for cold protection?

Important Winter Tip

A tip, when freezing temperatures are forecasted, make sure your soil in the root zone of your plants is NOT dry, whether in pots or the ground. Dryness of the media around the roots can cause conditions that can kill the plant. Check out my blog about this here.

Remember one of the reasons for winter herb gardening is to use them!

Quick Tip, fresh vs dried is 3:1, you need three times as much fresh when cooking with herbs (1T/1t).