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

I think so. In fact you could well be able to bring plants too and fro I will have to check. Though I gave my mum some peony tubers to take home with her last time she was over and she's still a free woman so it's a positive sign

I'll take a look at eBay too.

I just realised the OP asked about herbs in pots!! Totally overlooked that sorry!!

OP I've seem some herbs grown in those strawberry pots, it was very effective it seemed. Especially for the smaller herbs

Oh that's good to know Alternative. I don't have a big garden wouldn't want a triffid type overtake!

But why wouldn't growing it from cuttings lead to it self seeding just the same as if grown from seed?

There may be a sound botanical answer but my gardening knowledge is v superficial!

Thanks Jux for the hop in a pot anecdote. That sounds a good plan. In my garden the dill self seeds like crazy so I am never sure where it will pop up in any one year. OP feverfew is very pretty. Not sure how it would fare in a pot but I love its bright leaves.

I guessing it's the variety CQ rather than the way it's grown, the Bocking 14 doesn't seed and is grown from cuttings so therefore won't run rampant in the garden.

bought some Dill and Marjoram seed on way home from work today.

Ooh feverfew!

I bought some dill seeds and mini cucumber seeds back from Germany last week. Am now convinced the seed police are after me

Comfrey available in your patch of the woods available here:

www.futureforests.net/herbs.htm

But why wouldn't growing it from cuttings lead to it self seeding just the same as if grown from seed?

Bocking 14 is a sterile hybrid. It was bred in Bocking, Essex, by Laurence and Cherry Hills who then decided to set up an organic garden right in the centre of the UK - so they stuck a pin in the map in the centre of the country, which ended up in between Rugby and Coventry, they sent some staff to a local estate agents and bought up a patch of land which is now known as Ryton Organic Gardens. Run by the Henry Doubleday Research Association AKA Garden Organic www.gardenorganic.org.uk/

The gardens themselves have many varieties of comfrey all over the 'non-public' areas, as many of the varieties came with them. But Bocking 14 is the one that won't set seed all over your patch. Trust me on this!

The best way to get plants for free is to find someone with Bocking 14, and ask them for some. If they dig a plant up for you, their plant will grow back from the roots left in the ground and you can have a plant for free. The plant collects nutrients from the ground and stores them in the leaves - hence using it for plant feed. To increase your comfrey patch, when they are in full leaf, cut the leaves for plant food, dig the plant up and replant it a foot away. Then you will have 2. Do it again a month later with both and you will have 4. Always plant comfrey in an area that you don't want to use for growing later on as once you have it - it is very hard to dig out again.

That's fascinating, thank you for explaining Alternative. My weekend mission is now to find a piece of this for my allotment!

I had a surge of enthusiasm and tried to propagate some herbs on my windowsill. thyme, sage and lavender are coming through nicely but rosemary is not having any of it.

If you have room for a few different varieties of mint go for it, they're quite distinct and do really well in shady pots. Norfolk herbs have lots, I'm tempted by the berries and cream hybrid this year. Moroccan is fab.

This is a great thread. I've just added some Greek oregano and Feverfew to my herb garden.

And now I've put in some Angelica, tarragon and chervil.

I love the herb section of my garden centre. I also got some hyssop but I haven't counted it as a herb as I've planted it in a normal bed for the bees.

If Bocking 14 is sterile will it have pollen for bees? Is it bee friendly?