who grows their own herbs?

[kerr]

Been toying with the idea of having my own herb garden, dont know where to start though.
Whats best, buying seeds, full grown plants, window sill or garden?
Every time I've bought the grown ones from the supermarket I'm lucky if they last a couple of days on the window sill.
I fancy one in the garden but no idea how easy that would be to maintain.
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aprilia 125 Af1 Futura >> Suzuki gsxr 600 srad >> J1 zx6r >> cbr 600rr >> Speed Triple

[arry]

Really easy to maintain. They take care of themselves to a large degree.

I have chives, rosemary, parsley and thyme and all I do is cut them back and shove them in the garage over the colder winter months. They're ridiculously hardy.

[Shinigami]

i have seeds of basil, thyme, chives, mixed salad leaves, and rocket growing at the mo, still only little saplings so far, will be going outside on the balcony in a trough soon
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
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[arry]

oh, should have mentioned - they're outside in pots, and I bought them all apart from the Rosemary as 'living herb' pots from the supermarket. The Rosemary came from a cutting, and survived a very extreme winter in its infancy!

[Ste]

Errrrr, well, no comment.

[stinkwheel]

Depends on which herbs. There is a huge variety and some are easier than others.

Basil and corriander, for example, are a bit tricky, inside job in a pot of window box in most cases.

A rosemary bush once established will sit quite happily for years. As will thyme.

Mint and lemon balsm take over their given space, escape and become a pernicious weed so they are best grown in a container (or an old ceramic sink partially sunk into the ground).

Parsley looks like it's going to die then establishes itself and settles.

Chives tend to do well, come up year after year and will self-seed. Fennel keeps coming back every year too.

Oregano, marjoram, I would tend to grow fresh plants each year.

The plants you buy in the supermarket have been intensively grown under glass, they tend to be pot-bound and don't survive well. I've had some successes but they need to be split, potted up then hardened off.

I'd go with either growing from seed or buying as small plants from a garden centre rather than a supermarket. I would consider getting larger examples of the woody plants like rosemary, lavender etc. because they can be slower growing.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
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[hedgehugger]

Sage grows quite well too.

I've got Rosemary and sage growing in my garden. They are planted directly into the ground now, but started life in pots. The chickens don't eat them which is a bonus for me
Chives too, they spring up year after year.

The Rosemary attracts lots of bees, which is a good thing.

It's pretty cool to just nip out to the garden with a pair of scissors and lob a bit of bush off *nudge *nudge
to use in your cooking of course!

Just as a comparison.
Both these Sage plants are the same age, bought at the same time, both were the same size.

One was planted into the ground
https://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo53/ferretmonsters/2014/DSC08466_zps6361bd7a.jpg

The other left in a container
https://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo53/ferretmonsters/2014/DSC08467_zpsf65b9ad3.jpg

[Shinigami]

unfortunately I have no garden, just a metal balcony so mine will live in pots all their lives
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[Pigeon]

Tried Lemon Basil and Chocolate Basil outside. Didn't do well, they didn't like the compost and lack of watering

Trying again indoors on a window sill.


Giant Leaf Parsley outside, whole different ball game. Damn stuff took over, trees of it. I use hedge clippers to trim it!

[kerr]

Generally the herbs i prefer (apart from ste's) are parsley, coriander (fucking love coriander) basil, chives and thyme.

My idea was to make some sort of planter with the spare timber i have behind the shed.

So say i buy some plants from a garden centre and plant them in compost how often do you water them?
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aprilia 125 Af1 Futura >> Suzuki gsxr 600 srad >> J1 zx6r >> cbr 600rr >> Speed Triple

[hellkat]

My sage and rosemary in the country is shite, I need to twiddle with it a bit ... in London I have a monster rosemary plant ... but the parsley, mint and bay in Kent is fantastic. Taking down some variegated thyme (I think) to plant up this weekend and see if I can get it to grow as mental as it was growing (completely ignored by the local populace) in the council garden I stole it out of

Looking forward to seeing what else has sprung up whilst I've not been there!

I fuckin hope my santolina (not a herb, just part of my "scented garden" plans) has survived.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[hellkat]

That sage looks awesome, hedgehugger!
Mine(purple sage) is proper scraggy at the moment

Luckily my secret council garden is chockablock with it and NOBODY KNOWS WHAT IT IS ...!!! My plan is to harvest a few shopping bags full and put it in jars once its dry.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Ariel Badger]

I have a large patch (and getting larger) of wild garlic that I love in the spring and I grow cultivated garlic for the rest of the year. As for basil, I buy the pots from Asda and plant them out after the frosts and they thrive.
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[moonzoomer]

I have loads of feverfew which is a superior alternative to mint and has other uses, also wild garlic and loads of sage, the sage plants branches gets very woody later in the year and makes an excellent cold smoking wood for fish ( especially mackerel) and chicken.

[bugeye_bob]

Not sure if this will help get you started

https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/thursday-1st-may/product-detail/ps/p/herb-collection/

[oldpink]

Sage (Sativa Afghani Genetic Equilibrium)


I have grown a few things like parsley ans a couple of others but TBH I'm not a very good typical gardener
more of a specialist in hydro, which is more science than gardening
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Theory & hazard 24-may 2016, CBT 8th June 2016, MOD 1 2nd Aug 2016 Mod 2 2nd-Nov 2016 - Current bike CBR 600 RR

[hellkat]

[Ariel Badger]

You should always confine mint to a pot to stop it spreading.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[hellkat]

It was already here, Ariel. I'm probably going to rip it all out and plant, I dunno what yet, in there. But it's still likely to return, it's almost impossible to get rid of once it's at this level of rampantness, lol
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[stinkwheel]

[Grubby]

When we had the conservatory put in I got the builders to patio the garden & build a raised herb garden too. It's mental at the moment with two varieties of Sage, Mint, Basil, Fennel, Rosemary, Oregano, Bay, Flat leaf parsley & two different types of Chives.
Then there's all the chillies, but that's another tread!
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[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

The tall spindly plant just to right of center is a curry plant of sorts. Chuck in a few sprigs when making a base tomato sauce..remove before serving.

https://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m174/howlingterror_2006/8E73DA85-0453-4168-8C6D-0BDECEEB94A0_zps7urz2box.jpg

Flowering Chive.
https://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m174/howlingterror_2006/fb518ec0-235f-4f25-8607-5c80c1c76a52_zpsbe3d1d18.jpg
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[kerr]

Well i went to the garden centre with the mrs today,got some parsley, basil, lemon balm, chives, rosemary and lavender.
Managed to acquire an old chest her parents found in there shed and an old bike tyre

The wee red pot is/will be the wee ones sunflower.

https://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii265/BIGKERR/20140511_162346.jpg
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aprilia 125 Af1 Futura >> Suzuki gsxr 600 srad >> J1 zx6r >> cbr 600rr >> Speed Triple

[stinkwheel]

Top Tip:

Chive flowers can be used to flavour vinegar. Gives it a delicate oniony flavour and purple colour. Excellent in salad dressings.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Sload]

How does one even learn where to start with this when one cant even look after a lawn
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