I have a bumper crop of lemon balm this year. Since its doing almost too well, I wanted to find out if it's winter hardy in zone 6. If not, no great loss, if so, I'll be weeding it out now so I don't have a disaster come spring.

Thanks
Deb

I've yet to come across anything "organic" that will kill lemon balm.

uh oh..... Maybe I should just start pulling it up NOW!

Deb

It's a great herb, but is even more invesive than mint.

Hardy little plant, ain't it.


I cut mine down to about 2" above grade right about now, you don't want the flowers to become seeds, believe me! Although it does smell nice when you run a lawnmower over the stuff.

The LBalm in the big herb garden here is a candidate for my newfangled blowtorch with handy trigger and flame regulating knurled knob flame treatment. But I am sceptical, Lemon Balm has proven to be a survivor in these parts.
With the abundance of cheap fresh salmon this year, I have taken to sticking an entire stalk inside a $ 2 Pink, wrapped in alu. foil with butter, roasting it slowly. Light lemony flavour, not bad!
John

John, that sounds delicsh. Perhaps even tonight the lemonbalm will be used for the greater good.
Thanks for the idea!
Deb

Nada! It is a subtle flavor, not bad for fish. When you get up to your eyeballs in pacific salmon, you soon learn to become inventive. At 17 cents/100 grams, the stuff is cheaper than hamburger.



John

Re: I planted 6 plants, years ago at the edge of my strawberry bed. I now have one little bitty plant there. It seemed to have lost that battle.

Hmmm. Well, turns out that the lowly lemon balm has quite a history:

http://life-span.com/intmed/Access2Cons2/ConsHerbs/LemonBalmch.shtml

Invasive in that the herbs here grow in great soil, augmented only by digging in lawn clipping mulch that grows on wormpoo only. The other mints are grown in 5 gallon containers, sunk into the soil but the LB volunteered so it's becoming a tad unruly. Will have to confine that one to a pot, too.
John

Hey Deb,
I have lemon balm in my garden and it is quite hardy... I have had the same plant for years

I really like walking by the plant and taking a leaf or two to sniff while I walk around or drive to work. I just noticed it being a little bit bigger than I remembered. Then I remembered that there were other plants that I'd put in that spot. Uh oh...
Haven't been terribly with it the last week.....
Thanks for all the advice. I think I will try Lemon Balm tea as well.
Deb

My DH makes a pasta sauce by sauteeing onions in olive oil, adding garlic, olives and chopped tomatoes. He loves to throw in fresh herbs, although he doesn't know what they are called, and usually grabs thyme, rosemary and lemon balm. Add the fresh herbs at the very end, before you put over the pasta, since this is a fresh sauce and you don't want the herbs to meld too much. You can also add capers, anchovies and good wine to this in any combination and any fresh herb that strikes your fancy.
He just loves "The Naked Chef" now "Oliver's Twist" on the Food Channel. It inspires him to make the kitchen look like a tornado blew through!

If only I could get my DH to cook! I tried to get him to take Thai cooking classes with me since we both love the food, to no avail. He wouldn't even take "couples massage". I don't know. Maybe I should trade him in?
Deb

Not co-operative, huh. Has "his own mind", huh.
Cut him off for a week or so.

John

I grow lemon balm in warm zone 5. It's very easily controlled by cutting it back before it goes to seed. If you let it go to seed, it is invasive, but in five years, I've never had a problem as long as I cut it back.