Tell me about your herb garden!

[Tweety]

I have always wanted to plant an herb garden, but I am not known for my green thumb! I've asked DH for herb plants for V-Day this year and now I don't know exactly how to plant them. Could you please share how you grow your own herbs? TIA!

1. Do you plant them outside or in container pots (in or out)?
2. Full or partial sun needed?
3. How long do I need to wait to use after they are planted?
4. Any special soils or plant food you use?
5. Do you do anything special with any abundance you may have?

[TamiKnight]

Mine is dead, because I got busy and didn't transplant the plants, and I forgot to water them in their pots. This is the second time, too. Argh! I think I'll just buy them when I need them!

[mrswaz]

I planted an herb garden for the first time last year. I planted an assortment of herbs in flower boxes outside my kitchen window. That is the only place I could think of where I would pay enough attention to them--and where they would get enough sun. I've tried planting herbs both by plant and seed. I will never seed again--except for chives. Most plants come with the little tab that tells you how much sun they need-and if they're perennial or annual.

I do recommend containing them. Some herbs, like thyme and mint, tend to take over whatever space they are planted in.

[pammy]

Currently, I have a rosemary plant, oregano, and thyme growing in my garden window in my kitchen. I have a large container on my patio that I grow my herbs in during the spring/summer months. The perrenials that I have every year are: rosemary, mint, chives, sage, tarragon, oregano and two types of thyme (regular & lemon). I also grow basil, parsley and cilantro every year (these are annuals that you need to start from seed or buy a plant every year). It is tough for me to grow basil from seed, and I found a wonderful organic herb farm where I purchase my starter basil plants. I usually try to find a Thai basil plant every year, it is wonderful to have an unlimited supply of it. I find cilantro and parsley really easy to grow from seed. Oh, and the mint and oregano have their own container - they will most definately take over any area where they are planted.

I have planted cilantro alongside my jalapeno pepper plants in the garden, and they do just fine there. But all my other herbs are grown in containters, more for convenience. I just use potting soil with fertilizer, nothing special. It seems that my plants like to have direct sunlight, but you do need to be careful to keep them moist, especially on really hot summer days (seems the furthest thing from possible today, brrrr). When I grow herbs from seed, I just wait to harvest until the plant looks like it could use some pinching back. But, with my basil plants that I purchase almost fully grown, I will use the leaves almost immediately. I make pesto to freeze at the end of the growing season with my abundance of basil, and now that I have a garden window, I am trying to divide as many of my perrenials as possible so that I have a small plant to bring indoors over the winter. This worked really well with the rosemary, thyme and oregano (I brought in mint, too, but it got yucky bugs and a I pitched it before it could infest the rest of my herb plants).

[Lucinda]

There's nothing like having fresh herbs close at hand! Right outside my kitchen door I have mint (yes, it can take over. I rip mine up twice a year when it starts to get tired-looking and it always comes back bigger and better than before), thyme, rosemary, parsley, chives, oregano and cilantro all in the ground. Haven't had much luck with dill, either containered or in the ground and basil and tarragon have been either really good or dead immediately. Every few months I work some compost into the soil around the herbs and that seems to keep them happy.
Bouquets of fresh cut herbs make great spontaneous gifts for apartment-bound friends and I've started tucking rosemary into the little cut flower arrangements I have around the house.
I found that with minimum effort I get a great return, unlike my veggie or flower gardening. Good luck!

[beejayw1]

Originally posted by Tweety
I have always wanted to plant an herb garden, but I am not known for my green thumb! I've asked DH for herb plants for V-Day this year and now I don't know exactly how to plant them. Could you please share how you grow your own herbs? TIA!

I can't give a lot of advice because I just bought a house in mid 2001, and this is only the second summer (coming up) that I've been here. But I can pass on some things I read:

Apparently, the thing with herbs is that they are vigorous and hard to control, so you have to stay on top of them.

(I can attest to that: I have Lemon Thyme and Oregano that spread all over the place and got very leggy. I read that you have to keep them trimmed so they grow thick.)

From last year's experience, I can tell you that buying the plants and transplanting them works very well. Actually, I bought 3 types of sage year before last, planted them, and they came back last year! I was so pleased!

Basil didn't return, and you have to be right on top of it when the weather starts to get cold, or it will freeze before you can harvest it and you'll have a gooey mess!

This year I plan to see if the sage came back (I sure hope so, especially the tricolor sage), will see if the oregano sprouts (again, that's one healthy plant, and I think it'll be there). There's no question about the Lemon Thyme and regular Thyme coming back. I want to plant lavender, rosemary, marjoram and possibly some dill.

[Hoodone]

Tweety, I see you are in Dallas. I am in Houston (Zone 9) so some of my experience may help. Gardening is so zone dependent, so hopefully a fellow Dallas person can help more.

1. Do you plant them outside or in container pots (in or out)? You can do both, really. You might consider mint in a pot as it is a big time spreader. I find most herbs do better in the ground, though.

2. Full or partial sun needed? Most herbs like full blazing sun. But Texas heat can be brutal. So full blazing morning sun followed by afternoon shade would probably work best.

3. How long do I need to wait to use after they are planted? If you start from plants, you can use them essentially immediately. I have had success with seed, too, particularly basil.

4. Any special soils or plant food you use? Old gardening wisdom is that it is better to put a $5 plant in a $50 hole than a $50 plant in a $5 hole (or use your own $ denominations but you get the point). Use a good soil. Each plant has its own preferences in terms of sandiness, acidity, etc., but most herbs will do good in a nice, rich, composty soil. Raised beds are good in Houston due to frequent downpours. Probably that is good advice for Dallas, too. I don't know that much about feeding.

5. Do you do anything special with any abundance you may have? Um, cook?

I also wanted to mention the annual vs. perennial aspect of herbs. In Houston, the following are perennial: rosemary, thyme (not been very successful here), chives, mint, tarragon, oregano/marjoram, lavendar (not successful here) and sage (also not too successful). The following are summer annuals: basil, basil, basil. Wait until soil temp is over 70 degrees. The following are winter annuals: dill, cilantro, and parsley.

Please pick up a LOCAL DALLAS gardening book for better info!!

[alicerh]

You have gotten some good advice but I will add a few things. In the south, growing anything in pots is a nightmare. They need water daily. My advice is to prepare a small bed that gets afternoon shade and add some compost. Herbs don't need rich soil, it lessens the developement of the flavor. Plant mint in a big pot and sink it into the ground. This will keep the roots confined and it won't take over. Yearly pull up the pot, pull out a few sprigs with roots, replant these and give the rest to friends. Plant what you like to eat. Most are perennial except basil and dill.Cilantro is really not worth growing in the south because it bolts to seed as soon as it is hot. Plant parsley yearly for best flavor ( the old plants won't be as good after the first year). After it warms up and the plants start growing, harvest often to promote good bushy plants. If you cut more than you can use either keep in baggies in frig a few days or lay out on paper towels in an airy place out of light to dry for the winter. Once you get started growing herbs it will get in your blood!
The best book you can get is "Southern Herb Growing" by Madeline Hill and Gwen Barclay. These are world renowned herb experts who live outside of Houston.
Alice

[badunnin]

My herb garden is in pots, but large ones, that are on castors. When summer comes I wheel them outside, in the winter they come in. I'm a zone 6. They seem to like the large pots as opposed to the smaller ones that are usually associated with herb gardens. Especially since so many of them are spreaders. I keep basil, thyme, oregano, cilantro, parsley and chives on hand, in 2 pots. Rosemary I have outside, but mainly because I like it as a decorative plant as well as for its value in the kitchen. Also, the bigger pots hold more water, so it's less of a problem.

[Tweety]

Thanks so much for all of your help! Every one of you had great advice that I will be able to pull so much from. To tell you how little I know about gardening, I didn't know there was such a thing as Zones???!! I may pick up a gardening book at the library soon, as this is something I've wanted to get into. Can't wait to get my plants and start watching them grow- and I can't wait to start cooking with them!

[Tiger]

After sucessfully growing basil indoors for a year now, I've added 7 more herbs to my garden. I'm doing them all by seed so we'll see. (I'm doing it with my son as a little project. I may have to sneak some plants in the pots if it's not sucessful. )
A lot of people like to grow lavender . What do you do with it?
Also for those who grow herbs indoors, do you wash the herb before use or just pick and use?

[LaurenP]

Lavender can be cut in bud, tie in small bunches and hung upside down in a cool,dry, dark room with good air circulation. Once dry, use in dried flower arrangements. There are a few cake reciepts around, kind of a pound cake usually, I've never tried them. I love my lavendar! I started mine from seed about 7 years ago, and planted it along one south and east wall of my house, like a short hedge. It blooms in July, and is beautiful in bloom for about a month. Then I trim back the dead blossom stems and trim the bushes to a tidy little hedge again. They love sun, don't need to be watered (at least here in Ct.) and Don't want to be fertilized.

(are you sorry yo asked?)

[meslgh]

We recently moved, and right now our herb garden consists only of the rosemary and bay laurel that the previous owners planted. I am planning to do some container herb gardening, because about the only place that gets enough sun for herbs is our patio. In our old house we had raised beds in full sun, and we grew rosemary, basil, mexican mint marigold, lavender (can't remember what kind), thyme, chives, cilantro, and sage. The rosemary and lavender grew like weeds, but everything grew really well, except for the cilantro that bolted (gardenerese for going to seed) immediately.

Herbs really like full sun (even here in Dallas), but don't require major fertilizing. Here in Dallas we are Zone 8 (means that the average lowest temperature in winter is 10-20 degrees F). That's important, because some plants have more ability to survive cold weather than others; for instance, rosemary will survive an average winter here in Dallas, but certainly would not make it through a Minnesota winter. I agree that it would be helpful to look at Southern Herb Growing by Madalene Hill and Gwen Barclay.

You can start harvesting basil almost immediately after planting, and you don't have to wait that long for any of the others. I recommend planting herbs that you find yourself using a lot in your cooking (except cilantro and tarragon, because they just don't like it here in Dallas). One way that I like to use fresh herbs was suggested in Texas Gardener magazine: wrap an onion in foil, add olive oil or butter and assorted fresh herbs, and bake until soft.

[RebeccaT]

Does anyone have any hints for keeping thyme alive? I killed mine last year, and I am not sure what I did wrong. I am growing my herbs in containers, since I have a tiny little yard (I live in a townhome). My rosemary is doing great from last year, my basil did well last year and I just bought a new plant for this year, but I am stumped as to why my thyme wasn't happy. I get partial sun in the morning and early afternoon, and then it's mostly shady.

Thoughts?

[sneezles]

Originally posted by RebeccaT
Does anyone have any hints for keeping thyme alive?... but I am stumped as to why my thyme wasn't happy. I get partial sun in the morning and early afternoon, and then it's mostly shady.

Thoughts?

Well, I totally neglected mine this winter and it's coming back! It's in a pot that has full sun all day. It certainly was well watered this winter with all the rain we had and I never fertilized it...wasn't sure which one to use! So I'm not much help!

This year I'm growing thyme, sage, basil, rosemary (one in a pot and one in the flower bed), orange mint and verigated pineapple mint. The last 2 just smelled so good I couln't resist buying them. I also bought 2 lavendar plants and will put them in the ground.

[LaraW]

Rebecca, did your thyme plant ever get dried out? I went a couple of days without watering mine last summer, and it never really recovered.

Maybe its just one that does not like to get thirsty.

[RebeccaT]

That could be it, Lara... I was out of town for a couple of days, and while that didn't seem to bother my basil or rosemary, the thyme didn't do well...

I'll give it a shot, and see what happens.