Creating a Herb Patch

[Pandabean]

Currently in my garden I have an area that is 4m by 3m that has been doing nothing except gather weeds. The soil is good, its been used for growing veg for a number of years. Just that I may have let it go a bit in the past couple of years.
The patch has been left over from veg gardening and hasn't been used in 2 years as we can grow what we need in the other pathces (may have another post about that in the near future )

I have been thinking of turning it into some kind of herb patch but I am not sure how to go about it and what to plant. I am kind of looking for a mix between medicinal and culinary herbs. With the main herbs being oregana (if it will grow), thyme and basil.
Im not really wanting to bring spreaders in such as mint unless I know what I am doing....which I don't at the mo.

I do have lavender plants out the front garden, mainly for it to look kind of pretty.

I was thinking of fencing it off with a border, only a few cms high, putting down one of those weed cloth blankets and then putting woodchip on top and then place the herbs out. Perhaps with a small central tree.

Anyone got any ideas they could share?

 

[slowworm]

Many herbs like to grow in well drained, fairly poor soil. Noting your location you may need to add something to increase drainage otherwise many of the plants might rot off over winter.

I would then start off growing stuff you like to use. I'd plant common things like bay (ideal central tree - but keep it pruned or it can grow into a large tree), sage, chives, rosemary etc.

Note, basil is an annual so it'll need sowing each year. Another annual I'd grow is summer savory.

 

[Teepee]

I live on sandy, very slightly alkaline soil and grow the main ones quite successfully;

Parsely is the most used. Rosemary, sage, marjoram, oregano, garlic, thyme, chives(buried in a pot with no drainage), comfrey, most of the mints are all happy straight in the garden. Basil needs to be covered and protected from the whitefly; its the most troublesome.

 

[Suffolksteve]

Basil is very hard to grow in my experience. As I understand, it needs warm and dry sandy soil (exact opposite of what I seem to have) and so I have never had any success with it.

I have just bought James Wong's grow your own drugs (stolen idea from British Reds library) for about £2.50 delivered from abebooks.co.uk which you might find interesting. You shouldn't have any problems with oregano, rosemary (which I find is a wonderful herb) thyme and parsley.

BTW I am not associated with the mentioned website, a happy previous customer and one waiting for some new books.

Hope this helps.

 

[Toddy]

I can't grow basil outdoors here in Lanarkshire, it's too soft, likes heat, etc.....basically if you can't grow tomatoes outdoors where you are, it won't work well

For the rest, I just grow herbs among other plants throughout the garden. Mints are a pleasure and a pest because they grow so prolifically, so I keep them in big pots. Sage and Lavender and rosemary seem to do best in pots too, they don't get so waterlogged and they do get warm quickly. I think it depends on your ground tbh.

Chives and garlic just grow like onions, Thyme grows among slabs, lemon balm at the front door, comfrey around the clothes pole, wild marjoram just sprawls it's way prettily through the flower beds, Dill and Fennel seems to do well in sunny places, again in big pots, Tansy just takes over where it can, meadowsweet surrounds one of the ponds and the others fight it out with dye plants

Pick what you'd like to have and see who can send you cuttings or seeds, we all end up with waaaay too many

cheers,
M

 

[mountainm]

I found oregano grows anywhere.

 

[rik_uk3]

Take a look at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-New-Square-Foot-Gardening/dp/1591862027

http://www.squarefootgardening.co.uk/

This technique really is idea for smaller gardens.

 

[HillBill]

I found oregano grows anywhere.

Aye, but the flavours don't develop properly in the UK. Shame really as its lovely.

Pandabean - As said, Basil wont grow well outside. Good on windowsills and in greenhouses though. I plant basil around the tomatoes to keep the insects away as they hate the stuff. TBH, most herbs do well in pots. Also, they all need a variety of soil types. Thyme for example thrives in poor, stony soil, but struggles in a good soil. Mint will take over so plant it in a pot and sink the pot into the ground. Buy pot grown Rosemary from a garden centre or B&Q as it takes a couple of years to get to that size.

All depends on what you are going to use though.

 

[HillBill]

Basil is very hard to grow in my experience. As I understand, it needs warm and dry sandy soil (exact opposite of what I seem to have) and so I have never had any success with it.
.

It will only grow indoors or under glass in the UK. Soil doesnt make much difference, i just use multi purpose compost for mine and its all doing well. It is a VERY slow grower though.

 

[santaman2000]

I can't grow basil outdoors here in Lanarkshire, it's too soft, likes heat, etc.....basically if you can't grow tomatoes outdoors where you are, it won't work well ...

LOL. Is it any wonder that basil goes so well with tomato dishes?

 

[British Red]

PB,

Culinary wise I live the alliums. Welsh onion works well - like a large perennial onion crossed with a chive. Sage gets massive - we had some yesterday with breadcrumbs and fresh onion as stuffing - knocks spots of Paxo! Rosemary is great and drought tolerant. For the best salad ever grow sorrel. Like green apple flavoured lettuce. Salad burnett grows and spread well. Any of the mints grow well - but must be pot grown. Chamomile is good for tea and the like. I have a whole footpath of it.

I grow stacks more - but those basics serve well

 

[Pandabean]

Thanks folks and apologies for the delay in the reply. Been kind of busy with work these past couple of months hence not being on here as much as I used to.

I did have spearmint planted in the ground the other year until I read it can spread so I managed to dig it up and plant it in a container. It was doing ok til now its look a bit wilty. I also have a thyme plant and that is doing really well, nice and bushy. I also have sage planted out but Its looking quite straggly but still going strong. I havent touched these to cut them back as I am not sure how.

Years ago I remember hearing something about the Romans and how they arranged the herb garden, something about each patch being for specific uses such as cooking or healing. So I was thinking of splitting the patch up or design it in a way that it has both types of herbs.

Would a patch require much maintenance?


I also need to take into account of my location, not as sunny and warm up here as it is down on the south coast so perhaps that is why the oregano failed?

I have James' Wong's Grow your own drugs but its more the recipie end of things from what I remember reading.

 

[Toddy]

Thing is that there are hundreds of herbs.
You've already made a start on those you think you'll use, might I suggest that you have a think about what you'd actually use, or like to use.

For healing, or ease or food........some herbs do double duty Sage and mint and lavender all do.
Lemon balm does too, but Feverfew is a healing, not a flavouring, herb.
The other thing to bear in mind is that if those of us who grow them in an area similar to yours say they're hardy and no fuss, those plants will be good to start with, if you'll use them.
Some plants actually do better if grown in proximity to certain others.........my garden is a wee jungle or more like the original country garden; find a space, put a plant in it

If these are of any use to you, I can easily pot up little self sown plants of lemon balm, (melissa officionalis), Feverfew, lady's mantle. Those are so simple to grow, and hardy too. Others I can take cuttings, but you might prefer specific varieties ?

cheers,
M

 

[HillBill]

If these are of any use to you, I can easily pot up little self sown plants of lemon balm, (melissa officionalis),
cheers,
M

I've tried growing Lemon Balm from seed 3 times this year and not one has germinated. Any advice Mary?

Never have a problem germinating anything else, the lemon balm seeds are being awkward though.

 

[British Red]

I wouldn't plant Lady's mantle myself unless you really want it! I find it more invasive than mint!

PB - you do have to cut back some herbs regularly as otherwise they become woody and sparse - lavender, rosemary, sage. They will still grow but they develop wood stems. Cut back once a year gently - hacking bacj after a few years kills them.

Bill - did you surface sow the seed? The stuff self seeds insanely well with seeds just sat on the surface

 

[HillBill]

Bill - did you surface sow the seed? The stuff self seeds insanely well with seeds just sat on the surface

No, i followed the instructions on the pack. They only have a fine sprinkling of sieved seed compost over them, maybe a couple of mm max. I'll try a surface sowing then and see what happens. Cheers.

 

[Toddy]

Yeah, I rigorously remove dead flower heads from the Lady's mantle because of that.
The other one that seeds prolifically, and anyone who wants some little seedlings is very welcome, is St. John's wort.

Mark, if you send me an address I'll find a lemon balm seedling and send it to you. Trust us, you won't lack for them long once you have it growing
Easy to cut back, hardy, and it's a lovely plant to have; really nice near a pathway or gate where you brush past it

cheers,
M

 

[HillBill]

Mark, if you send me an address I'll find a lemon balm seedling and send it to you. Trust us, you won't lack for them long once you have it growing
Easy to cut back, hardy, and it's a lovely plant to have; really nice near a pathway or gate where you brush past it

cheers,
M

Thanks Mary. I think i will try the surface sowing first, save on you messing about. I may be in touch in a couple of weeks if i get no joy.

 

[Toddy]

Might be worth a couple of nights with the seeds in the bottom of the fridge too. Mine seem to sprout in Spring, but I know they were sown late Summer/Autumn.

cheers,
M

 

[Pandabean]

Your not the only one HB. I tried to sow lemon balm this year in the greenhouse and nothing out of 4 pots.

Thanks Mary, I might take you up on that offer. Are you heading down to the moot this year?

How do you propogate a plant from cuttings?

I saw a video on YT for handling the lavender and I will go and cut it back in September, well for the newly planted ones, the others are a bit woody.
Are you supposed to cut thyme back, it seems to be doing really well.