Isn’t that part of a song? Every gardener should plant herbs, including parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. They will add some natural insect repellent to any veggie bed. They smell good, look great and of course, you cook with them. The wife and I have a dedicated herb bed. This bed borders part of our patio. I would like to tell you that this location was selected because of the insect repellent properties of herbs. It was really done this way so the grandkids would have easy access for playing in the herbs.
Herbs have a few issues. Some of them border on being invasive. Anyone that has grown mint in a bed knows what I’m talking about. The other is that some will bolt very quickly. Wikipedia says “Bolting is the premature production of a flowering stem (or stems) on agricultural and horticultural crops before the crop is harvested”. Anyone that has grown Cilantro knows what I’m talking about. Cilantro is always the first herb to bolt. Or it seems that way. When herbs bolt it happens fast. The flavor can change and not always for the better.
Stress from heat, amount of sunlight (day length), nutrition, and water are some of the things that will cause bolting in crops. The simple way to stop bolting is to trim the flowering stems as soon as they appear. This task can be a twice-a-day chore. All this makes bolting sound like a bad thing, right? In most cases, if you let the herb complete the bolting process you will get volunteer plants from the seeds. Basil is the best or worst at this.