Anyone have success with an herb garden?

[PierreBear]

Would love to hear your experiences of having an herb garden! Is it indoors versus outdoors? What do you grow? Is enough grown to use it for cooking?

I currently have a huge rosemary bush outside that I don't have to tend to at all. However, I don't use this herb very much and wish I had some parsley, thyme, tarragon, and oregano. I'm learning though that other herbs aren't as drought/winter tolerant so I wasn't sure how others maintain it. I generally just purchase fresh herbs if I'm making a recipe that requires it if it's the star of meal. Otherwise, I just use dried herbs. Thanks in advance PSers with a green thumb!

 

[cmd2014]

Yes. I grow large pots of basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary, and sometimes chives every summer. Full sun, good potting mix, good drainage, and I water daily. They grow really well as annuals for me as I'm zone 3. You also have to pinch back the basil, thyme and oregano to encourage branching and discourage them from going to seed (either just use them to eat or pinch off the tips occasionally as well as any flower buds threatening to grow).

I haven't had luck inside. Not enough light I think.

Also cilantro is notorious for bolting. Most people plant staggered batches to have fresh cilantro available through the summer, but I just find it easier to buy it.

ETA: this was in the early summer in my old house. Basil, mint, thyme, and catnip. I stopped planting catnip as my cat started to be disinterested in it and every other cat in the neighborhood ended up in our yard. Big pots are much easier than small ones.

 

[monarch64]

I've grown all of those inside with no problem but I had huge south facing windows.

A great way to overwinter herbs while ALSO keeping them contained (for instance mint will take over a garden without consistent attention) is growing them in containers. You can even use containers without bottoms or make mini raised beds within your plot.

As to whether a plant will survive a winter in your garden, you would need to find out what your garden zone is. Just google your city and "garden zone" and a map should come up to help you figure it out. From there you can find plants that will overwinter, or you will know if you need to take them inside for the winter which will help you determine what to plant in containers.

Many varieties have been developed to be slow-to-bolt. Basil, cilantro are two of those.

Yes, thyme LOVES to be trimmed. Herbs tend to be very resilient and cutting encourages growth.

Oregano and parsley are perennials where I live in zone 6b. However, I use oregano so much that I kept it potted for years and brought it indoors as necessary.

Grab a book about herbs online or at your bookstore. Gardening books are always beautiful to have around and a handy reference since devices and gardening/kitchen work don't typically mix unless you're super careful or have a waterproof case on your phone/ipad!

ETA: Oh, almost forgot: there are lots of ways to preserve herbs to get through the winter if your herb garden goes dormant. You can check out Pinterest for a ton of ideas. The easiest (with freshest end result) is to freeze them. You can use olive oil in ice cube trays, freeze fresh sprigs or leaves in freezer bags, etc.

 

[telephone89]

I had great success with planting starters in my raised beds last year. I'm going to try seeds this year.
Parsley and basil were my best performers. Thyme was pretty good, and my cilantro was not great lol. Chives and green onions grew well too.
We had a lot of rain last summer so I didn't have to water it much. This year I'm debating doing them in pots so I can bring them in for the winter. Its SO nice to have fresh herbs during the winter (really, anytime). We had so much parsley we were giving it away and putting chimichurri and gremolata on everything haha.

 

[cmd2014]

I make huge batches of pesto and freeze it in bunches of small containers for winter use. Also last year I bought a food dehydrator and dried my herbs. Way more flavorful than commercial. Especially my thyme, oregano, and rosemary. It was a chore (I groused that I was in a herb gulag for a couple of days), but it was worth it! I also slow roast my garden tomatoes with thyme and olive oil and freeze them for winter use. So good on bruschetta or in pasta!

I wish I had better windows for indoor herbs. I've been tempted to buy a miracle-gro aerogarden.

 

[telephone89]

@cmd2014 - I also grew hot peppers and couldn't finish them so froze them. They were still PERFECT pulling them out for whatever dish we needed in the middle of winter! We actually just used up our last ones last night, so I'm going to be growing more this year to last us longer. Even freeze dried herbs/spices taste better than grocery store ones lol.

 

[tyty333]

No green thumb here but I grow basil, rosemary, and I've got some parsley right now. I live in a very
warm state. Honestly, they grow so fast I have a hard time keeping up with them. I also grew some
thyme and oregano last summer that I just let go. They were taking over and I wasn't using enough
of them. I love having fresh herbs but I wish they would grow just a little slower!

 

[monarch64]

No green thumb here but I grow basil, rosemary, and I've got some parsley right now. I live in a very
warm state. Honestly, they grow so fast I have a hard time keeping up with them. I also grew some
thyme and oregano last summer that I just let go. They were taking over and I wasn't using enough
of them. I love having fresh herbs but I wish they would grow just a little slower!

Plant your herbs in containers with really good drainage in the bottoms. Then burn those containers in your garden bed. You have a much better chance of not having herbs take over if their root system stays contained that way.

 

[cmd2014]

@cmd2014 - I also grew hot peppers and couldn't finish them so froze them. They were still PERFECT pulling them out for whatever dish we needed in the middle of winter! We actually just used up our last ones last night, so I'm going to be growing more this year to last us longer. Even freeze dried herbs/spices taste better than grocery store ones lol.

Good to know! I love pulling summer foods out of my freezer mid-winter. I smoke brisket and pulled pork most weekends in the fall just to have meat for tacos all winter. I'll have to add chili peppers to my plant list.

Our growing season is pretty short: end of May until early September. So I squeeze in anything I can grow in a container (my new house doesn't have space for an actual garden).

 

[AGBF]

Basil; oregano; cilantro; chives. There may have been one other herb I grew. I think I got seeds for some vegetables at one point, but didn't follow through very much with them. I used planters (very large wooden ones that were built in) at our home in Virginia because I didn't know if the soil had ever been treated for termites. Having had ground treated for termites myself, I am always suspicious of what previous homeowners may have pumped into the ground. My herbs did beautifully and I used them constantly. The basil was huge. Virginia has a great growing season, even better than Connecticut, which I believe is probably better than Canada (where some of you gals hail from).

 

[lambskin]

Sage, oregano,mint and chives come back every year for me. Oregano is really invasive. I plant fresh basil and Italian parsley every year. Cilantro has been iffy as we seem to have too much rain. I live in the midwest. Our garden (veggies, herbs and flowers) is organic. The herbs are next to the house so they are shielded a bit from the storms and keep warm. I have grown rosemary successfully but I do not use enough. It does not regrow for me.

 

[jordyonbass]

My house has Silverbeet and Parsley growing EVERYWHERE - to the point where I am almost about to start hitting it with weedkiller!!!

 

[lissyflo]

Do most of you live in areas where it's too hot/dry for slugs and snails? We have rosemary planted in the garden and last summer I has sage outside in a pot. The rosemary grows really well and the sage did well for most of the summer but then slugs destroyed it pretty much instantly. I'm trying again this year and will try coffee grounds around it and a garlic wash to try and keep away snails, but any other tips gratefully received! We have children, a cat and a dog, so I try to stick to non-chemical options wherever possible. I'm also trying thyme and fennel outside this year, plus lemon balm for fresh herb tea to try and reduce my caffeine habit!

 

[lambskin]

For slugs, we take a shallow pie tin or plate and fill it with beer. The slugs crawl in, drink to their delight and never get out. We do not have snails.

 

[AGBF]

The fact that I had raised beds (by using the wooden planters and potting soil) seemed to keep me from having snails and slugs with my Virginia herb garden. I never thought about them until you posted here. I guess those raised beds didn't even feel like a "real" garden. They were very little work once they were planted, but so much joy.

 

[MJ_Mac]

Do most of you live in areas where it's too hot/dry for slugs and snails? We have rosemary planted in the garden and last summer I has sage outside in a pot. The rosemary grows really well and the sage did well for most of the summer but then slugs destroyed it pretty much instantly. I'm trying again this year and will try coffee grounds around it and a garlic wash to try and keep away snails, but any other tips gratefully received! We have children, a cat and a dog, so I try to stick to non-chemical options wherever possible. I'm also trying thyme and fennel outside this year, plus lemon balm for fresh herb tea to try and reduce my caffeine habit!

Besides fennel I've read that sharp sand helps. You just put it around the plant. Slugs have delicate bodies and don't like the feel of it. We plant marigolds for aphid and nematodes. I don't know if it work for slugs.

 

[Dee*Jay]

The XH used to successfully grow herbs in pots on the balcony, but he'd let them die off rather than do anything with them in winter. The only thing he could never grow satisfactorily was chervil, and the one time he did get it going well The Demon ate it.