One Vegetable, One Community (OVOC) is distributing three varieties of herb seeds this year — common mint, Genovese basil and chives!
Beginning the first week of May, you will be able to pick up your seeds throughout Beltrami County.
One Vegetable, One Community is in its 10th year of distributing seed kits. This initiative all started with a single question: “How can we increase access to fresh, healthy food for everyone in our community?”
The goal has been to bring the community together around growing and preparing a single “Vegetable of the Year.” By sharing stories, recipes and gardening tips, we inspire creativity and collaboration while strengthening our local food system.
Herbs are commonly known for putting some spark into seasoning our foods, but there are herb varieties that have many other uses. Their medicinal properties have been the focus of research worldwide for a long time.
Think about how many different types of tea or supplements you see on your market shelves, mostly created with various herbs, and with claims of wellness for many different ailments.
Both mint and basil are in the mint family, as well as many other commonly known herbs. Chives are members of the onion family. Basil is an annual, meaning it will need to be planted every year (although if you allow it to develop seeds at the end of the season, it may come up from seed in the spring). Mint and chives are both hardy perennials in Minnesota.
If you are planting the three herb varieties from OVOC this year, the basil and mint will do well starting the seeds indoors. You can transplant the seedlings outdoors once the danger of frost is past and the ground has warmed.
The chives will do best if they are seeded directly into the ground, once the soil has warmed. If you want to keep the chives contained, you can certainly plant the seeds in a container. Chives do have a tendency to multiply and spread each year if they are planted in the ground.
Most herbs will grow best and develop more flavor and fragrance if they receive at least six hours of direct sunlight per day. If grown indoors, make sure they are in a sunny window.
Mulching with straw, compost and leaves can help maintain soil moisture during the summer months, and then can also provide good winter protection for the perennial herb varieties.
Many herbs have the best flavor if they’re harvested right before they flower. Chives can be cut close to the ground 3-4 times a year after the first year. Mint and basil can be harvested from young plants by pinching off sprigs or individual leaves. Once the plants are 4-5 inches tall, cutting sprigs with 3-4 pairs of leaves from the top of the plant will encourage bushy growth.
Herbs can be added to food or drinks or brewed into tea, and you can also preserve your herbs for use in the winter months by drying or freezing the leaves.
One Vegetable, One Community herb seeds can be found in Bemidji at Harmony Coop, Bemidji Public Library, Beltrami County Public Health and WIC office, Bemidji Community Food Shelf, Bemidji Senior Center and Bi-County Cap.
If you are in Blackduck or Kelliher, seed kits can be found at the Blackduck Library, Blackduck Resource Center, Blackduck Sanford Health Clinic, Kelliher City Hall, Kelliher Sanford Health Clinic and Kelliher Community Library.
If you visit the Beltrami County Fair in August, look for the OVOC display in the Horticulture Building, where you will be able to vote for the 2027 vegetable seeds that OVOC can distribute!
Stay in touch with all One Vegetable, One Community events by following the OVOC Beltrami County Facebook page.
These local garden articles will reach you each week throughout the gardening season, but gardening information can be found year-round by clicking on “Yard and Garden” at the University of Minnesota Extension website,
www.extension.umn.edu,
or by visiting our Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/Beltramicountymastergardeners.
Local Master Gardeners will respond to questions via voicemail. Call
(218) 444-7916,
and leave your name, number and question.
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