Idiots guide to herbs in big outdoor pots

[Flingingmelon]

I live in the SE and my garden gets plenty of sun. I'd like two or three big pots that I can grow herbs in.

I eat a lot of thyme, parsley, coriander and rosemary and a little bit of sage, basil, mint, and tarragon. Would they all grow well together? What sort of percentage space should I be giving each plant?

Can someone point me in the right direction of a how to guide or give me some tips here?

I'm clueless but enthusiastic

Great thread. Love the story about the hop pickers, Jux. I'm suffering terribly with insomnia atm so I'm going to try and find some hops and make a pillow.

Nice thread.
May I add my 2p worth?
Sacred basil (osimum tenuiflorum) can be grown in pots in greenhouses or sheltered warm areas and is wonderful in tea.
Also Fennel can be grown in pots. Dill is yummy in salads.
Aloe vera (does that count?) grows well in dry ignored pots.

Eeeek!!! Just bought and planted some angelica - didn't realise it was a nutter for growing - knew it was tall but eight feet!!

I love herbs and have a whole bed given over to them, mix up of in soil an pots. I've

Angelica (!)
Chives - thrives year in year out
Sage - thrives also but an suddenly die an will need replacing
Coriander (several varieties) - do ok nothing dramatic
Lemon-balm (in it's own pot)
Chervil - has come back this year
Fennel - can bit a bit hit and miss this one
Mint (own pot)
Rosemary - totally thrives
Curry plant (dwarf) - new this year so can't say anything
Garlic - bit like chives
Thyme - like the coriander it's nothing dramatic
A random bit of horse radish

I've some cumin seeds that I'm going to sow next month too.

I have tried to have tarragon but so some unknown reason it grows quite happily and then suddenly disappears!! Completely and utterly disappears - as in the opposite of the shopkeeper in Mr Benn

How does everyone grow dill - that's another that just disappears!

Moln, where did you buy your angelica from? (I can't get it yet, I have nowhere ready for it.)

Tarragon is quite tender. It's not a long-lived perennial. I've had three years out of mine this time, but no sign of it so far so I think I'll need to get a new plant this year.

Dill is an annual, so it will only come back if it re-seeds itself.

Does anyone know if you can get stevia in the UK? Either plants or seeds.

I have a friend who grows it and the leaves taste really nice. But we live in Chile. I'm quite sure I won't be allowed to bring a plant/seeds with me through customs at Heathrow

Yes to both. I bought a plant last year and seeds the year before.

Jux Im in Dublin, I got it from the urban farm up the road to me. Small plant shop attached.

I've found that the best way to keep sage going (and looking good) is to cut out all the flowering stems each year (but let it flower first, it looks lovely and is very popular with bees). Mine must be about 10 years old now. (It'll die now I've said that )

My tarragon was there, growing nicely. Next day whole plant was gone, rather than not coming back same as the dill. Very odd!!

I had my sage eaten by rabbits one year. It was growing in a bed against the wall of the house. We went away for a week and the rabbits got brave enough to come right down to the house. They only ate what they could reach, so it looked really funny - every leaf eaten down to the stems in a neat line up to 18" high, then it bushed out as normal at the top

Moln, maybe slugs?

Possibly Jux. Though you'd have thought there'd be some sort of indication there had be something there. I had to question myself if I'd actually had anything in the first place!!

Shall try again this year, I do like tarragon (and actually use it, I have to admit to not using all herbs I grow, I like a lot of them just for what they are) though I have difficulty in finding any anywhere in ordered to plant it.

I'd love to have some comfrey, but can't get it anywhere!

Inspired by you lot I have just been to my local nursery which specialises in herbs.

I've bought thyme, borage (for my Pimms!), vietnamese coriander (spicier than normal variety apparently), marjoram (mostly for the bees), moroccan mint, oregano and parsley.

A beautiful day for potting up. I've also some rosemary in a pot which has sulked for months so I'm going to plant that out in a sunny border near my back door, along with an ugly looking sage bush donated by my MIL.

Very excited!

Moin - they had comfrey at my nursery but we're a long way from Dublin, sorry :)

Thank you alternative

I'd love to have some comfrey, but can't get it anywhere!

If you were in the NE I could give you some. It grows wild all over the place! We have masses.

I've only ever come across comfrey in NE (think it was called Gibside (?)) and the growing in Suffolk at a NT place. Was EVERYWHERE there. Also a garden in West Midlands. Not found it in Ireland ever! Not sure you're allowed to bring plants over, imagine I could became an international plant smuggler and leader in the Comfrey black market

Oooh borage, mind set my eye on that instead!

That is the only place I've come across comfrey being sold was Gibside.

Other places mentioned it just grew

I'd love to have some comfrey, but can't get it anywhere!

www.organiccatalogue.com/p1492/COMFREY-PLANTS-Bocking-14-Pack-of-5/product_info.html

Ah thanks Alternative I'll take a look but I imagine the postage to Ireland will make it uneconomical.

Have you tried ebay? I got two snow gums this week, for £7.50 inc postage. From Ireland.

Moin how about growing comfrey from seed here

Are you allowed to get seeds delivered by post to Ireland?

I wouldn't recommend growing it from seed as it self seeds everywhere. That's why the Bocking 14 variety is good because it only grows from root cuttings.