Anyone successful in growing herbs?-

numpty2009

Hi

My husband is a keen cook and uses an awful lot of fresh herbs, which is costing us a small fortune. I am determined to establish a good herb garden and currently have a large rosemary tree, 2 huge bay trees, 2 newly planted thyme bushes (he's not allowed to touch those yet!) and a mint that is trying to recover from winter (have a funny feeling that one might not make it).

He also uses a lot of basil and coriander and I have never been able to grow this successfully. Has anyone got any ideas/tips. Or even general herb growing tips?

I do seem to have to start again every spring at the moment which is costly. I do have some spare veg patch land at the end of the garden which I would turn over to herbs however, are they normally annual or should they last the winter?

fiscalfreckles

It depends on the herb!
Mint is very hardy and will keep coming back, as will thyme, oregano, marjoram, lemon balm & sage. In fact mint will spread & can get out of hand, so is best in a container.
I replant parsley, coriander & chives each spring.
I have only ever grown basil successfully indoors, it really needs some warmth so I have it on my kitchen windowsill which is quite sunny.
Rocket is quite easy to grow too, (not really a herb?) I use it in salads but it is quite prolific & hardy.

Farway

I find my chives just go on & on, perhaps depends where you live?

Lemon balm will self seed & never vanish, like mint just running everywhere

Have you looked into various mint flavours? There are many available

Thyme also comes in assorted types

Check out garlic chives, in my garden they also just go on & self seed, despite me hating the taste of garlic, but the bees love the white flowers

I am in Hampshire BTW, so above may not apply to Aberdeen or Iceland

PS, the older flavourings may be worth checking out, like lavender or pot marigolds for instance

ruthber

Chives are easy to grow and will come back year after year. I have already harvested some from my garden this week. I love them on salads.

fiscalfreckles

I like the sound of garlic chives...must try those!

Sambucus_Nigra

Garlic Chives are lovely.

My top tips for basil and coriander - a good healthy weed free soil, sow in nice warm weather, water with warm water and cover with a fleece until germinated. Consider some wind protection for the basil, as it's the wind that gets them. Sow after your frost date has passed [Usually May time] and on a good sunny day with more forecast.

Sow a good amount - for a decent amount to make pesto for example I'd be sowing a patch of around 200 plants in a square meter of space....the ones sown in modules just don't seem to transplant that well if you want decent amounts. Be bold, one or two plants aren't going to cut it!

Chives don't need replanting every year, just chop them back at the end of the season and new growth comes back around now.

Dhiren

Going slightly off topic, growing watercress is an absolute breeze. Let it sit in pot of earth with overflowing water and it just grows and grows. The thing grows everywhere even if seed hits the paving slab it will grow naturally around it.

Herb wise thyme seems pretty easy to grow in a pot.

Leif

fiscalfreckles wrote: »

It depends on the herb!
Mint is very hardy and will keep coming back, as will thyme, oregano, marjoram, lemon balm & sage. In fact mint will spread & can get out of hand, so is best in a container.
I replant parsley, coriander & chives each spring.
I have only ever grown basil successfully indoors, it really needs some warmth so I have it on my kitchen windowsill which is quite sunny.
Rocket is quite easy to grow too, (not really a herb?) I use it in salads but it is quite prolific & hardy.

I agree with everything you have said, apart from chives which I have not tried. As for mint, even a 1cm length of root will grow into a new plant, so do not compost it!!!!!

As an side, I am about to dig a 1m wide, and at least 5m long, bed for herbs including sage, oregano, curry plant, thyme and hyssop, and anything else I can find. I'm assuming they are okay just spaced out enough to allow for growth. Is this so, or will some soon dominate? I recall my late mother had some golden oregano which filled one bed, very nice ground cover though, suppressing weeds! Hopefully this question relates to the OP's thread, if not, whoops!

Leif

Incidentally if you like chillis, there are lots of marvelous ones you can grow on a windowsill. Rocotos are like small apples, with thick flesh and a fruity flavour, medium heat. Habaneros are very hot but full of flavour. Capsicum baccatum species are lovely, fruity and usually producing a good crop. But they do occupy a lot of space on the windowsill. Some of these non standard chillis do not do so well outdoors compared to Capsicum annuum, which is what you normally see. But a Rocoto should do fine, they are more cold tolerant than most.

lizzyb1812

Basil - the easiest way to start this is to buy a growing pot from the supermarket. Transplant it into a bigger pot and keep on kitchen windowsill. The pots in the supermarket are actually lots of young plants but don't bother trying to separate them. Instead cut several 3 to 4" bits and stick them in a glass of water. After a few days they will develop white roots and can be planted. I did this last year and it kept me in basil until winter. I froze lots which I'm using now whilst waiting for my new plants to grow - growing from seed this year.

Mint - in a pot. Dies back in winter then will reshoot in spring - same with chives - mine is already big enough to cut from. Curly and flat leaf parsley planted the same as for basil - kept going all winter in an unheated greenhouse.

All my herbs are in pots and near my back door.

Coriander - I'm not a fan but think the supermarket pot method would work for that too.

Thyme - also overwintered in the greenhouse and going strong.

avantra

Dhiren wrote: »

Going slightly off topic, growing watercress is an absolute breeze. Let it sit in pot of earth with overflowing water and it just grows and grows. The thing grows everywhere even if seed hits the paving slab it will grow naturally around it.

Herb wise thyme seems pretty easy to grow in a pot.

That's if you have running/overflowing water. We don't have this but do like cress in a nice ham sandwich with some Dijon mustard and nice fresh mayo.

We opt for the Land cress that taste the same and no need for all the water malarkey.