Hardy perennial herbs - what can I grow?

[Samuel1988]

Evening all,

I would like to make a 'permanent' perennial herb patch and I was wondering would can I plant? I would like a range as I am keen on trying what I grow in my cooking

Many thanks,

Samuel

[veggiechicken]

Mint, chives, sage, thyme, rosemary, bay, marjoram, oregano, fennel for starters. All are perennial.
There are lot of different types of most of them too. So you could have spearmint, peppermint, chocolate peppermint, basil mint, Moroccan mint, Apple mint etc - Each one is different. All can be invasive so watch where you plant them.

[Samuel1988]

Thank you for your reply

Is it too late now to try to grow them?

[cariann88]

You can grow herbs all year around indoors


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[veggiechicken]

Its best to start with the plants - not try to grow them from seed - especially the different types.
Mint is easy to grow from cuttings, first find someone with the mint you like, then cut off 3-4" from a stem, strip off the bottom 50% of leaves and put the stems in water, up to the level of the lowest leaf. They'll have rooted within a week or so.
try the same technique with any other cuttings you can get hold of. I've done it with rosemary and bay.
Marjoram and oregano send out little shoots and root alongside the mother plant. They're easy to cut off, uproot and pot up.

[ButternutSquash]

I wouldn't plant mint in the ground, too invasive. Some such as sage get very big. Fennel self seeds terribly. It is huge too. Thyme, marjoram, oregano, hyssop are nice ground cover. Winter savory is a favourite of mine, tastes good too. These all attract lots of bees. Lavender, rosemary, lemon verbena, lemon balm, southernwood, french tarragon, there are so many. Personally I think winter savory, oregano, tarragon and rosemary are some of the best culinary herbs. Jekka McVicar's book is worth getting although some of her planting spacings are too close e.g. sage. The great thing about herbs is that a plant costing £1.50 or so can in a year grow huge, and be propagated to,create new plants. Or take cuttings from neighbours.

Chillis are a good perennial too, but must be brought indoors in the cold months.

[RaptorUK]

Its best to start with the plants - not try to grow them from seed -

I've grown Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Chives, Bronze Fennel from seed this year . . . as well as Summer Savory, Basil, Dill, Corriander and Parsley.

The Rosemary was slow to germinate, but we had more than we needed in the end . . .



the Sage is getting quite bushy . . .

[hamamelis]

Just a word to look carefully at varieties and eventual size before planting- I have two sages on my plot, a tricolour sage, the one I planted, which is a decent size upright pretty plant, and the crazy sage planted by the previous plot holder, which is sprawling over a 2m² patch by itself.

If you're planning to use a lot, you might think this a good thing, but I've cut carrier bags full off that thing, and it's still advancing!

[Green Gerkin]

I had last years herbs in a pot, mint, sage, basil, chives and rosemary. They survived the winter no problems.
Only problem is in spring the mint romped away and ended up killing everything else.
So this year I have put each herb in small individual pots so that they all have a chance of surviving!!


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