How often to water herbs?

[Lottapianos]

I'm in South East, so scorching sunshine and no rain for ages. I have bay in a bed, and thyme, lavender, sage and rosemary in pots on the patio. I was watering them every day until this week. The lavender is looking very dry and crispy and the rosemary has gone quite yellow.

How often should I be watering them at the moment? Ta

I think rosemary is quite resistant to drought, but (apparently) can suffer root rot if overwatered. I just stick my finger in the soil, sometimes it will look very dry on the surface but be surprisingly wet just below. If you're not already feeding the plants it could be a nutrient shortage, particularly as they're in pots. I think it can suffer if its growing medium gets too alkaline. I don't know if any of this advice would also apply to the lavender.

Thanks icake

Any other thoughts from anyone?

It’s 30+ for most the summer here in south Europe.
I have Bay, Rosemary, thyme, basil, mint, chives, oregano. Plus fruit and veg. All seem fine to wait 3 days between watering if no rain. The rosemary def doesn’t need much, i had to add sand to the soil last year to stop roots rotting.

And lavender, that can wait weeks unless it’s newly planted. We have lots on the high banks that I can’t reach easily to water, so they only get rain water which was about 6 weeks ago

In the ground I water once a month or so if its really hot, but give it a really good soak to properly wet the soil. Pots as necessary, but a few times a week.

It depends on the size of the pots and whether they are plastic or something porous like terracotta, but to be honest, if they aren't big pots you need to be watering them daily at the moment. Crispy leaves is a sign that the roots can't provide enough water to sustain them so they dry up. New ones will soon grow again.

Problem comes when the roots also get dry and the root tips die off. The plant can't take up water and can then literally die of thirst.

it is much better to do a deep water (full watering can) once every 3 days or even once a week than a dribble every day. deep watering encourages the plants to grow deep roots and sustain themselves through dry periods. And make sure they have BIG pots to keep the water.

do you have bay in a bed with the other little herbs? do you realise that plant would like to grow into a tree 4m high? move it to somewhere with space and let it grow properly.

'do you have bay in a bed with the other little herbs? do you realise that plant would like to grow into a tree 4m high? move it to somewhere with space and let it grow properly.'

No other space in the garden. No other herbs around it, it's by itself. I use the leaves for cooking so don't need it to grow to an enormous height

I use the leaves for cooking so don't need it to grow to an enormous height It’s not about what you need, it’s about the tree’s growth pattern. The older it gets, the more energy it has and the more difficult it will be to constrain its size. Rosemary grows only to 1m or so (not much more than 0.5m in the UK) so is easier to keep in bounds

4m is an underestimate of bay’s final size

I was at a national trust property looking at the herb garden. My partner was reading the labels and said "well, where's the bay then". I told him he was standing under it. He expected a herb to be a small plant, the bay was so big he literally hadn't noticed it.

I expect a bay in a pot could be like a bonsai though.

Bay can be kept pruned for decades, not a problem (but needs some maintenance).

I lived in southern France, we had no rain for 5 months and temperatures over 30 degrees daily, and rosemary, thyme, oregano and lavender survived without watering. They did look parched in summer, but recovered in autumn. They also lived much, much longer than they do in the UK.

Basil, on the other hand, needs almost daily watering. I believe it is naturally from more tropical regions.

Obviously was talking about in the ground, in pots they will need some water! How much is entirely dependent on size of pot etc as per PP, but rest assured that they can take a fair bit of drought and look rough without dying.