Each year that I have planted a garden, I have planted at least a few herbs and teas…Basil, chamomile, echinacae, dill, oregano, kota, sage…
The first year: nothing.
The second year: we put in the mint and it did great.
The third year (last year): a little bit of basil and a lot of mint.
Definitely not sufficient. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Maybe trying to start everything from seed? Do I need to just bite the bullet and purchase some starts and throw them (lovingly, of course) into the ground? I just might have to do that since I long for fresh herbs out of the garden and have had such bad luck.
In the meantime, I decided to start a few under our grow lights and see what they do. I planted Basil, Purple Basil and Oregano in mid December and this is what we have so far…
We have Basil (in the back), Oregano (in the middle) and more Basil upfront. The purple basil didn’t germinate and the little guy you see here was trying to grow under the big guy in the back, so I plucked him out and gave him some room. This set of three pots will eventually live in my tiny kitchen window, but we’ll have to wait for some warmer weather first.
Here’s a close up of that beautiful basil. Short and stout and smelling oh, so sweet!!! It’s leaves are huge! Much bigger than the ones that grew outside in the sunshine last summer!
We also cut some of the mint off our trying-to-make-it-through-winter mint in the front before it finally succumbed to the cold last fall. We rooted it in a jar for a bit and then plopped it in some soil. It’s moving slow, but it is moving 🙂 We’ll have to find another container for it in the spring, but for now, it’s adding a bit more green to our little corner of the laundry room.
So far I’m happy with my little experiment. I just might try to start a few other herbs under the lights in an effort to avoid purchasing starts this year….we’ll see how this spring goes…
What do you think? Do you have an established herb garden? How did it get that way?
….and zero success with chives!!
My big basil self seeds all over, even in the compost heap. Mint, rosemary, thai basil and thyme have all done well but the sage suffers badly – perhaps it’s too wet here; it used to grow in great swathes in my old garden in England. Your basil is looking good, well done!
Hmmm…what is the difference between thai basil and regular basil? Sounds like it might be interesting…
To me Thai basil is a stronger, “spicier” flavor than Italian basil, if that makes any sense. It’s pretty, too, I usually grow it in a big pot on the porch.
-Jaime
A fair few herbs are grow quickest when propagated by division; I’m thinking tarragon, mint, lemongrass, garlic chives, chive, lemon balm, thyme, sage & oregano. This means it is generally easiest to buy plants or better yet if you know anyone with a plant they need to divide…..Although all but tarragon can be grown from seed. With the others: basil, parsley, chervil, thyme they are great from seed but I would definitely recommend sowing a lot more than you think you’ll need as particularly basil and parsley can take awhile to get going and if you’re anything like me you’ll use large volumes. Rosemary is very easy to strike from cuttings so if you know anyone with a plant…
Thanks, Liz! That is all wonderful info to have and greatly appreciated!!!
I have a decent raised bed herb garden going in a spot off the front porch that doesn’t get too much harsh sunshine. Mints do really well in the shade, and take over everything, so I have them separate, right against the side of the house. I’ve had success growing basil, parsley, terragon (to my surprise–it was huge the second year!), dill, and chamomile from seed. I buy starts of the more “woody” herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage,and oregano and then keep cuttings to propagate them each following year. I can’t for the life of me grow cilantro, though! One year I managed to grow some from seed in a pot that I continually babied, but even then I only got one cutting before it wilted and died! Maybe this is the year…I keep hoping 🙂
-Jaime
Wow…you have so many herbs going! What an inspiration! I’ve never even tried to grow terragon…do you have any tricks?
I don’t know why, but terragon grows like a weed here! I didn’t do anything special, so I assume it’s just easy to grow. I hope it comes back this year 🙂
that big basil looks beautiful! i have chives, sage, lemon balm and oregano from starts and they’ve flourished year after year for ages. i usually don’t buy starts of annuals though. last year i had great luck with basil by direct-seeding it kinda late in the season in partial shade in a cooler part of the garden, rather than out in full sun/heat like is usually recommended.
Interesting tip about your success with basil last year…I just might try to throw some seeds where they maybe shouldn’t flourish and see what happens 😉
Nominated you for the versatile blogger award, I love what you do!
http://twomenandalittlefarm.blogspot.com/2012/02/versatile-blogger.html
Big hugs!
I’m catching up on my commments and thought I’d thank you here, too…THANK YOU!!! You’re so sweet! I appreciate you and all you do, too <3
Gawd. I try this every year, and every year I fail. My most successful plant (ever) has been a Greek oregano that I bought as a start. It is enormous even after being separated (with the shovel spade), transplanted, and separated again! I love that thing. Otherwise, while my mother-in-(not)-law can grow basil in a crack of a shady sidewalk, I can’t get it to do more than fall over dead. Lemon balm was successful in a pot one year, but I couldn’t keep it over the winter. I am determined to figure this whole herb thing out because I want three different herb gardens (medicinal, aromatic, savory). Let me know if you come up with anything brilliant!
Sounds like we’ll just have to learn together, ha? Silly herbs! I’ll definitely let you know if I find a trick that works!
I planted lemon balm last year. It’s growing great in my 8b (renamed 9a???) garden. I have already had to separate it. I also planted a good bit of thyme, some from seed and a couple from Lowe’s. The seed ones are doing every bit as well as the others. I plan to plant more seed ones, because I want to have a lot of it to use as ground cover in my rose bed. I planted 3 St. John’s Wort on a whim. 2 died. But I love that little plant and plan to plant some more. Someone gave me some oregano. They just grabbed a hunk of it and yanked it out of the ground. I put it in the ground and it languished for awhile, but now it is growing like gang busters.
I planted a basil plant and dried it at the end of the season. I still have so much left that I am debating whether to put any more in this year. Tried cilantro and parsley and lovage. Busts on all of those.
All your herbs look great.
Thanks for the reminders about thyme, lemon balm & parsley! Herbs seem so tricky…either they take over over they completely fail! crazy!
You know, I had a lot of things completely FAIL last year, so I was happy for those little plants that tried to take over.
I’m hoping for better luck w/ parsley this year, but it’s supposed to be hard to grow from seed. I may get a plant from the store, though I’ve been trying not to do that this year.
Love the lemon balm. It makes such nice herbal tea.
We’ve had mixed success as well starting herb seeds in doors. I hear hearbs are a hard one for starting from seed. Like you though, I would prefer to so I know the origins of my seeds — my goal is all heirlooms on my farm 🙂 I have one other problem though…my herb garden has outgrew itself and I need a second one 🙂
I, too, have the goal of having all heirlooms…eventually 😉 Man, what I wouldn’t do for an overgrown herb garden! I’ll live vicariously through you until we can establish our own! 🙂