Herb garden 2014

[Gypsy]

So we went to a couple nurseries to get our herbs this weekend.

This year I've got:
Lemon Basil
Italian Basil
-- I'm planning on planting these in one pot together, does anyone know if that's okay of it is a bad idea?

English Thyme
Common Sage
French Tarragon

Chocolate Mint (need to get a different planter for this year though, it didn't do well last year)

Catnip (still need to buy this)

Flat Italian Parsley


Everything except the 2 basils which I plan to put into one large pot is going to be in it's own pot. I'll take a few pictures when I've got everything planted. Only the sage, thyme and tarragon are in their permanent homes right now.


Also, I was tempted to try different types of sage and thyme but was wary of them... do you have any favorites of these? How are they in food?

 

[kenny]

Cool!
Got pics?

 

[VRBeauty]

I'd add a rose-scented geranium just for the sheer pleasure of rubbing the leaves and smelling that heavenly fragrance. I haven't tried using the leaves in baking, but some people do. One of these days!

 

[Gypsy]

Cool!
Got pics?

As soon as I get them all planted in their permanent homes (next week, most likely).

VR!! That's a great idea. Since I still have to buy catnip I'll pick some lemon geranium (which I use in tea) too! Do you have pics of your garden.



PLEASE POST ABOUT YOUR HERB GARDENS AND POST PICTURES TO SHARE!

 

[TooPatient]

I love Silver Thyme! It is my favorite with the really classic thyme flavor. Also very pretty!

We also grow Lemon Thyme and Lime Thyme. Both are wonderful! I'll sometimes use alone or just mix all three

Makes wonderful salad dressing (I do herb/vinegar dressings), chicken rub, beef marinade, veggie rub (toss slices of squash with tomatoes, baby onions, and fresh herbs in a bit of olive oil then steam in foil packet or roast on fire), mashed potato yummies, roasted potatoes, pasta salads.....
We grow LOTS of herbs so I'm tossing it in everything



Our thyme comes back every year along with purple sage, silver sage, Greek oregano, Mexican oregano, lavender, and Tuscan rosemary.

Oh..... mint...
Yeah.
The house came with lemon balm (not mint but similar idea). It is now EVERYWHERE. As in it jumped over a fence (6 feet away from planter) and is now growing all over in our back yard and gardens too.

I had the "brilliant" idea of planting other sorts of mint we'd actually want. Now it is growing up out of the grass in our front yard...
That's okay. We just mow it and keep the planter patch. I'm trying to get rid of the lemon balm (yeah... makes the ivy look easy ) so we can let the chocolate mint, orange mint, spearmint, and peppermint grow into the other half of the planter too.

 

[pinkjewel]

No rosemary, Gypsy? One of my favorites!!! Used to have a huge rosemary plant that came back every year, but the extreme cold we had this year did it in.

My basil always overflows a pot- and I plant a very large pot!! Do you think you have enough room for 2 plants on one pot?

 

[chrono]

I would suggest separate planters. Our herbs go out of control crazily; they grow into each other's areas and like to overtake the other parts of the garden too, if left unchecked.

 

[Ninna]

I don't group much but I like to plant tarragon near chives as they seem to need a bit more water.
Sage, rosemary, oregano, lavender and thyme are often close because they thrive in hotter, drier soil.

I really like 'Caraway' thyme, perfect for meat dishes and bread dough.
'Archer's Gold' is quite popular here, it has a strong lemony scent and color fluctuates depending on heat.
I find thyme much milder than sage. I often use thyme blossoms or tender leaves over salads, pilaf, in tea, sparkling water, beer and lemonade. Browned tyme [or sage] butter over gnocchi is wonderful. I also roast most veggies with 4-5 springs of thyme all year long.
Thyme ice cream is the bomb!

Chives, [strawberries], rosemary and flat leaf parsley came back nicely this year.
Basil did not -so I ordered a ridiculous amount of seed [Italian large leaf] that seemed forever to germinate!

 

[Lulie]

I'm trying containers this year to keep things under control and closer to the kitchen. So far rosemary, flat leaf parsley, chives, lemon thyme and cilantro are doing great. Loving the Stevia plants! Yes, Lulie and Jo do eat thyme.

 

[iLander]

I used to grow a lot of herbs and end up not using them. I'm not a great cook.

So I am just planning chives which is all I really use.

Plus some dill, which I never use. I grow it for the swallowtail butterflies, it a caterpillar food for those guys. Spread some seeds, let it go, caterpillars mow it down, et Voila! Swallowtails. Same for carrots. I let them go to seed, and they host swallowtails as well.

If you see these guys, leave them alone

 

[Gypsy]

My husband isn't a huge rosemary fan. And around here there are dozens of rosemary bushes just growing wild. Plus the stores always have it. So I never feel the need to plant it, as when I do need it for a recipe I have no trouble finding some.

I do use my herbs for cooking/eating and we usually outpace our small pots, that's why I am growing two basils this year. The planter I want to put them both in is huge, it's a large container, so I am hoping that it will work if I can stick them together.

I know you aren't supposed to mix mints in the same pot , I'm just not sure if basil is the same way.

I probably should have gotten two tarragons too, but the tarragon planter is the same one we used last year so I'm expecting it to come back and combine with this one. I'm hoping for a robust tarragon harvest.

If I see a different thyme again this weekend I'll pick some put. You guys have made me more adventurous.

 

[TooPatient]

Please forgive the messy yard . This was summer 2012 when I was working at pulling most everything out. I'm now starting to re-plant with stuff I actually want (still some removal to do including stumps...) but the yard looked awful for a couple of summers. Oh -- and the IVY is almost GONE! All that ivy is covering a really pretty rockery. We've got it almost ivy-free so I'll plant that later this summer or next depending on how much ivy tries to come back.

First picture is the front of our house. Those bushes around the front entry are rosemary (circled in red). They grew MUCH larger after this picture was taken. You can't see it, but I've got planters with chives back near the house (need to expand as I never have enough of these). Lemon balm is on far right of yard. Mint varieties next to it (circled in orange). Strawberries just to the left of the stairs (circled in yellow) (they've grown and spread since the picture!). Lavender just to the left of the chimney (circled in blue).

Second picture is a planter to the side of the front yard. You can see more of the lemon balm on the right top and mint on the left top. The bare part had tomatoes earlier in the summer.
Sage on the far left end then oregano just to the right. The thyme is in the taller box but not seen in the pictures.

All the herbs were freshly cut back and have since grown substantially larger.


I'll try to post fresh pictures when the herbs are back for the year!
I've also added scallions and garlic since these pictures were taken.

 

[Gypsy]

What a lovely large yard. You just don't get those out here. I'm jealous!

And so many lovely plants (congrats on the ivy!).

 

[VRBeauty]

How about just a picture from the garden? Right now my garden is best seen in close-up ; this is a picture I took yesterday. The lavender/pink flowers are some sort of geranium - in scented geranium family, I think, though the leaves of this particular species are not scented. This species manages to do quite well in my very Darwinian garden, and puts on that wonderful show for most of the summer. The small rose is called "Angel WIngs" - it's the only rose bush I've ever managed to grow from seed - and you can also see some Santa Barbara daisy and lamb's ear.



I'm not doing any potted herbs this year, so I'll just make do with the perennial herbs already in the garden - tarragon, oregano, chives, winter savory; and two or three varieties of thyme that I use as ground cover in a front planting strip. I also have a potted sweet bay laurel that comes in handy for soups or stews. I can poach sage from rosemary from well-established plants in my neighbor's yard.

(The photo posted upside-down. )

 

[TooPatient]

What a lovely large yard. You just don't get those out here. I'm jealous!

And so many lovely plants (congrats on the ivy!).

Thanks!

It is a massive work in progress. The strawberry area used to be all ivy. Where the rosemary is had been some sort of fast growing bush (as in prune a foot or so each month and it speeds ) that smelled like cat urine
The previous owners loved ivy and other invasive ground covers. They also didn't give any thought to how stuff grows so we have the palm tree growing under the roof and damaging the chimney (roots are undermining!).

We have a row of blueberries along the other side of the yard. The blackberries in front are still a bit out of control, but I'm trying to get them into a contained patch. Hoping to add raspberries this summer so we have them too

 

[minousbijoux]

I have an herb patch (as yet to be replanted this year, save for the mint which is trying to claim the whole area ). I will plant some cilantro, dill and tarragon. But by my back door, I have pots of all sizes and have thyme, rosemary, parsley and basil in with lots of flowers - some perennials but mainly annuals which don't compete too much for root space. I may not be creative enough, but that's about all the herbs I use frequently - except for saffron, which I've tried to grow, but with little success.

 

[Saoirse2]

Lovely pictures
I'm hoping this smallish box will last, it is in the patio over an old chair. I'm keeping the German thyme trimmed as it loves that area way too much. I'm another Stevia fan; I use a leaf in my tea daily, I find the little white flowers pretty. The red flowers are tristen strawberries that might be too tight in there. I know lavender will soon come out of the box but it's doing ok for now. Behind all this there's a crazy rosemary bush and a bald concord grape vine

 

[Gypsy]

WOW. Everyone's pictures are great. I'm jealous.

 

[Gypsy]

How about just a picture from the garden? Right now my garden is best seen in close-up ; this is a picture I took yesterday. The lavender/pink flowers are some sort of geranium - in scented geranium family, I think, though the leaves of this particular species are not scented. This species manages to do quite well in my very Darwinian garden, and puts on that wonderful show for most of the summer. The small rose is called "Angel WIngs" - it's the only rose bush I've ever managed to grow from seed - and you can also see some Santa Barbara daisy and lamb's ear.



I'm not doing any potted herbs this year, so I'll just make do with the perennial herbs already in the garden - tarragon, oregano, chives, winter savory; and two or three varieties of thyme that I use as ground cover in a front planting strip. I also have a potted sweet bay laurel that comes in handy for soups or stews. I can poach sage from rosemary from well-established plants in my neighbor's yard.

(The photo posted upside-down. )

I'd love to know what exactly those lovely little purple flowers are. What type of geranium is it?

 

[VRBeauty]

I'm pretty sure it's "pelargonium ionidiflorum." This is a better representation of the color:



And this is a decent picture of the growth habit (taken from the Annies Annuals website, which also calls it "celery geranium", though I can't really detect a scent on the leaves):



It's available at a Marin County (!) nursery that specializes in geraniums - and I can also try to pot one up for you in the event that we're able to get together one of these days!

http://geraniaceae.com/cgi-bin/detail.py?id=660

 

[monarch64]

Gypsy, I just happened to find this on Pinterest today and thought I'd post it here:

http://www.ehow.com/info_8055887_herb-plants-can-potted-together.html

 

[Gypsy]

Gypsy, I just happened to find this on Pinterest today and thought I'd post it here:

http://www.ehow.com/info_8055887_herb-plants-can-potted-together.html

You rock. I'm going to ask DH to finish our potting today. Oh. wait. I forgot we need 2 new pots. Drat!

 

[monarch64]

Gypsy, I just happened to find this on Pinterest today and thought I'd post it here:

http://www.ehow.com/info_8055887_herb-plants-can-potted-together.html

You rock. I'm going to ask DH to finish our potting today. Oh. wait. I forgot we need 2 new pots. Drat!

Ah, well, I'm sure your herbs will wait for the weekend.

Do you think if I plant a chocolate mint in with our strawberries the fruit will taste like chocolate-mint-covered-strawberries???

I think I'm gonna try it.