Mount oversees annual herb seminar at Terhune

Pam Mount demonstrated to a class how a variety of herbs can be started in small pots. (Photo by Richard Skelly)

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP — Like any farm, there’s always lots of things going on at Terhune Orchards.
On Saturday, May 14, Pam Mount, co-owner of the 250-acre Terhune Orchards and farm, offered her annual herb growing seminar for farm market patrons and anyone curious about growing their own herbs.
She showed the class how a variety of herbs can be started in small pots, grown indoors in six hours of daily sunlight before being transplanted to larger spaces.
Many people keep their herbs in pots year-round on a patio or deck and move them in for the winter time.
Mount, a former gardening columnist for the Princeton Packet newspaper, holds her seminar every year in mid-May as people get outdoors and back to their gardens.
“All of the herbs we grow for the retail store here, we grow out in the fields,” she said.
In general with herbs, she said, “if you let them go to seed, that’s the end. Right now, you can buy plants, but if you wait until the middle of summer, you may find it difficult to get plants.”
“The latest trend right now is looking at your backyard in suburbia as part of the National Park System, so many people are creating wonderful herbal gardens and extensive flower gardens in their backyards as opposed to leaving it just grass and a few trees,” she said. “Trees are so important now and we realize they sequester so much carbon dioxide and get that carbon dioxide out of the air and put fresh air back into the atmosphere.”
They use black plastic to keep soils warm and keep weeds down in the farm’s herb garden and in some rows of vegetables. Unfortunately, she said all the used black plastic has to be thrown out as there is still no method as of now for it to be sustainably recycled.
“The recycle people don’t want to ship dirt around, so we have to throw it out in our trash,” Mount said.
Mount covered about a dozen varieties of herbs, some very common, some not-so-easy to find.
Excluding basil, as it likes much warmer temperatures and should be moved indoors in the fall, she discussed regular parsley, curly parsley, oregano, several kinds of mint, sorrel, rosemary and thyme.
“If you have a bigger pot your plant will get bigger if you have a smaller plant pot your plant will stay small,” she said.
Once plants are transferred to herb garden soil, “you’re not doing yourself any favors by putting more plants close together,” she explained.
All of the flowers grown on herbs are edible, so why not eat them, too, she suggested.
“These flowers are fun to put in your salad and, if in your garden you see herbs coming up from last year, just give them a little bit of love and off they will go.”