Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation

Thermopolis, Wyoming

Folklife & Foodways

Planting Time

Our family in Oklahoma love to tease us with descriptions of how tall their vegetable plants are right now. They were planting back in April. In Wyoming, the “frost line” (time to plant) is May 15 – if you’re lucky.before that time if you have a greenhouse. But this requires heating the greenhouse 30-45 days to give the seeds a good start. A few who prefer to do it the old-fashioned way surround a small garden area with hay bales and cover the top with old windows or plastic. But because the weather can vary 50 degrees or more during those early months, it requires careful watching to keep them from freezing or burning up.

Because of this short season, most gardeners here buy vegetable plants rather than starting them from scratch.

Unless you have a fortress, consider who is going to feast on your plants. When deer and rabbits are starving, they will eat anything. But some plants are less likely to be eaten -- rabbit brush, cat mint, lavender, sage, yarrow, lilac.

With water always at a premium in Wyoming, xerigraphic plants that thrive with little water make sense.

Check the seed and plant catalogs, especially those that focus on xerigraphic planting or difficult areas, such as high plains areas.

Starting Your Herb Garden

Herbs love heat and sun. That makes Wyoming a wonderful place to grow most herbs. If you can fence a little area, you’ll worry less that your plants will be eaten as a salad by some critter before you can get to them. If not, edge your herb bed with strong herbs (less likely to be eaten by deer and rabbits) -- most varieties of mint (including lemon balm), chives, garlic chives, horseradish, onions.

Don’t forget the bees – hummingbird mint (Agastache family, which smells like anise or licorice), bee balm (Monarda, a member of the mint family), and borage (Borago officinalis, with slight cucumber taste).

Top Ten Herbs for Small Spaces

2. Common or sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) – essential in Italian and Mediterranean dishes; a great companion plant to tomato plants.
2. Curly parsley (Petroselinum crispum) – or straight-leaf Italian; soups and salads; excellent source of vitamin C.
3. English thyme (Thymus vulgaris) – used in French cookery, excellent seasoning for meats, vegetables, sauces.
4. Common sage (Salvia officinalis) – earthy flavor enhances poultry, pork, stuffings.
5. Common oregano (Oreganum vulgari) –
6. Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) – member of onion family, hardy, excellent for soups, salads, omelets. Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) – combines onion and garlic flavors; good companion for chives.
7. Mint (Lamiaceae parent famly, Mentha genus) – many varieties, but spearmint (Mentha spicata) and peppermint (Mentha piperita) are most commonly used as teas and in salads. Plant where you don’t mind if they spread quickly and take over. If you have room, try other varieties – pineapple, chocolate, apple – but they are often less hardy.
8. English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) -- most common and hardiest for this region; deer-resistant, so plant it in flower beds or unprotected areas. Commonly used to scent linens; but makes a good tea or dessert garnish.
9. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) – used in Mediterranean and French cookery, excellent for meats, stews, sauces, breads.
10. Marjoram (Origanum maiorana) – related to oregano, but slightly sweeter, used for meats, salads, stews.

Trying to interest a child in gardening?

Get them started with “Egyptian” onions (Allium cepa L., topset onions, top onions, walking onions). This old-fashioned variety winters almost everywhere. Our plants start showing above ground in April, almost a month before most other plants. What makes Egyptian onions fun for kids are the tiny bulbs which sprout on the ends of stalks above ground. Some varieties have single bulbs, others have clumps of bulbs on stalks. In some, the bulbs sprout stalks and more bulbs. Some are white, others have a hint of red. They grow in clumps, and they multiply easily. In early spring, use like green onions -- in salads, stir fries, egg dishes, sauces. By mid-late summer they are too tough to eat, but they begin producing the small bulbs at the tops of the stems above the ground. The baby bulbs can be separated and planted – or they can be pickled.  

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