Making a herb bed

[Rapscallion]

herb quuestion
Hi all, i have a sort of raised bed at the bottom of our garden and am thinking of replacing the plants in there with herbs. The camera is facing roughly south eas. Currently in pots i have

Back row

• 2 x lavender (Lavender Ashdown Forset)
• 1 x spearmint (was cut back a little too severely)
• 1 x purple sage
• 2 x french tarragon

Front row

• 1 x thyme (i think it has become too wet in the pot and isn’t doing well)
• 2 x lemon balm? (in the small pots at the front)
• 1 x chives (not exactly thriving!)

I would also like rosemary, bay leaves, marjoram / oregano in the bed. Would I be able to buy any at this time of year to plant out?

Is it too late in the year to pull all the plants / grass / weeds from the bed (excepting the two large bushes - does anybody know what they are?) and plants out the herbs?

[veggiechicken]

Go for it, Raps!
Give the bed a thorough weed before you replant as most of your herbs will be there for years to come and it won't be so easy to weed around them.
Mint and lemon balm will spread and may swamp the smaller herbs so you might consider sinking an open bottomed pot and planting them into these to restrain the roots.
You should be able to find rosemary/bay/marjoram/oregano on sale still - although the latter 2 will be dying back for winter so may not look their best.
A closeup of the shrubs would help to identify them.

[Rapscallion]

Go for it, Raps!
Give the bed a thorough weed before you replant as most of your herbs will be there for years to come and it won't be so easy to weed around them.
Mint and lemon balm will spread and may swamp the smaller herbs so you might consider sinking an open bottomed pot and planting them into these to restrain the roots.
You should be able to find rosemary/bay/marjoram/oregano on sale still - although the latter 2 will be dying back for winter so may not look their best.
A closeup of the shrubs would help to identify them.

Thanks,

I have started to remove the plants and there is not much soil left. What should i use as bags from the garden centre will work out expensive?

Also, is there any advice on what plant i should put where, e.g. the rear of the bed and close to the shrubs will be more shaded; and perhaps some would prefer more gritty soil etc

[burnie]

A lot of herbs live in poor well drained soil in the wild, what ever you use(I'd use garden soil) add some grit to help it drain. The "Mediterranean" ones will want as much sun as you can give 'em, maybe Chives in the shady bits?

[Rapscallion]

A lot of herbs live in poor well drained soil in the wild, what ever you use(I'd use garden soil) add some grit to help it drain. The "Mediterranean" ones will want as much sun as you can give 'em, maybe Chives in the shady bits?

Thanks.
PS for planting mint and lemon balm in open bottom pots, how big pots would you use?

[Scarlet]

Depends on how much room you've got really. - Ive a few mints but the one that mainly gets picked is in a Belfast sink and gives me enough to pick throughout the season. Lemon balm, I hate the stuff and seems to reseed everywhere so be careful with that plant. You could use flower buckets?
That big yellow leaved plant in the corner of your plot looks like a choisya sundance (photo would help) they can grow quite big. I'd ID that before you start as it could do with a good cutting to stop it taking over.
Bay will also grow huge, so you needto be quite ruthless with that as soon as it finds its feet it will take off . Back of the border for this one....but not too close to the fence that it hasn't got anywhere to grow.