Herbs

[DeepfriedPizza]

Where does one start with growing herbs?
I am not green fingered in the slightest. I manage to successfully grow wildflowers each year in pots (for the bees) this year I have grown lillies in a pot but that's about as much as I can do.

Can you plant herbs and they'll come back the next year? I would like to grow rosemary and mint especially. Should I do it indoors?

Any tips would be appreciated

Rosemary is a shrub, just buy one, plant it in a flower bed and leave it there. I've never had a garden without one, they seem to thrive in all sorts of conditions.

Mint is fine outdoors as well. It looks dead in the winter; you trim down the brown stems to ground level and it pops back up with a bang in spring. You want to put it in a big pot though, don't put it in the ground or it'll take over your whole garden.

They're two of the easiest herbs to grow, you chose well : )

Rosemary is pretty indestructible. Just plant outside and leave it and it always grows back in spring

My rosemary is about 4 years old and looking a bit sorry for itself but will grow back soon ...they usually do...

Every year I say I will freeze some sage but never get round to it...it dies down for the winter. Rosemary is there all years round

Oh I have also got a few others including some basil and coriander I grew from seed..just sprinkled it in a pot and a few weeks later it sprouted (I was amazed as I am not naturally good with these things)

Mint, Rosemary, thyme and sage will last through winter outside and easily grown in pots. I grow mint in a long trough because the roots like to spread.
A cheap way to get these plants is to get the pots from the supermarket. They’re often less than £2 and have more than one plant shoved into a pot! When you get them home, separate them and pot them on to bigger pots, they’ll then grow away.

Parsley is easy but you have to sow it every year. Does well in a big pot or shoved in a flowerbed. Chives are v easy, buy a supermarket pot if chives now and grow in a pot or in the ground. It dies back in winter then comes back.

Just remember to water and feed them.

Oh and pot on when they get too big for their pots or split them into two pots (chives that is you can split and ,int).

I’m growing tarragon and lemon verbena in pots and have lots of oregano in the garden. I like herbs a decent garden centre will have loads of different kinds.

A bay tree is lovely too but they do grow big eventually. I love a variety of thyme as well as different sages as they look and smell lovely. Lemon balm grows well in pots. Chives are so useful - none of them need loads of work. My sweet cicely died after about 10 weeks though - not sure what I did wrong.

Tarragon is another easy grower - plant it in the spring. And basil can be hardy when grown from seed indoors first, and gradually allowed out.

Good luck! Herb growing is lovely.

Oregano and marjoram are easy too and come back each year.

Most herbs are also great for bees.

Lots of good tips, thanks!

Glad that herbs are good for bees too.

By the way, if you have cats, or your garden is visited by cats, you might want to rethink the lilies, they are deadly to cats.

Nope, no cats. The dog chases any visiting cats away ;)

I just googled, lilies are pretty dire for dogs too.

Can you snip out the pollen carrying bits?

I no longer bother to grow parsley from seed. Like a PP, I get a pot of growing flat leaf parsley from the supermarket harden it off a bit then divide and plant it. The same for thyme.