When should I trim back herbs and tomatoes?

[SeptemberVibes]

Some Q’s about my herb garden.

I have tomatoes, tarragon, a bay tree, oregano, rosemary, mint and basil.

Due to the hot weather they’ve been a bit hit and miss.

The bay tree seems to face dried up. All the leaves are brown.

Rosemary seems ok, but not really grown

Basil bushes x 3 have gone crazy

Had some nice tomatoes, but not the bounty I had last year

Tarragon and oregano has grown a fair bit

I completely trimmed back the mint as I didn’t use it, but it’s grown back again and is a small bush

When should I be looking to trim them all back?

Leave the bay tree completely alone, it is either dead or alive, and you will find out in the fullness of time.

Tomatoes - take off some of the leaves so the sun can get to any unripe fruit, and give some tomato feed if you have any.

Rosemary can be left to its own devices, they come from Mediterranean countries and are fine with hot, dry weather. You don't need to prune it.

If any of the other herbs are flowering, remove the flowers, otherwise just use them for cooking, or dry some for later use. They don't need to be cut back at this time of year. They will be fine for ages yet.

Tomatoes and Basil are annuals so will die when the frost gets them. I’d cut back half of the mint now to ground level. and when it resprouts, cut the other half so you always have some to use. Oregano the same as mint. Do you know which tarragon you have? Russian is hardier than French.

Tomatoes, remove leaves near the ground to prevent blight from splashing up onto the leaves when it rains.

Basil, I'm seeing people harvest and make pesto on social media. Presumably they'll freeze it. Mine isn't still outside for now. Making an effort to use though.

That should say mine IS still outside