Planting a new herb bed

[Rapscallion]

Hi all,

have a new patio in our garden and have a bed in front i would like to use for herbs. I have some herbs in the bottom of the garden i could move (rosemary, lavender, sage, bay, thyme) and would also like some mint and oregano. The garden / patio faces SE so gets plenty of sun, but i would say the left hand side goes into shade earlier in the day.

Could these all happily live in the same bed? I think that some (e.g. mint) likes wetter conditions than most of the other herbs listed.
Can i just dig up the herbs and transplant?
What plant would you put where and how much space should i leave around each plant?

PS, i have put a question in 'the flower mill' forum asking about flowers for the top bed.

[Rapscallion]

PS, thinking that i should ,maybe keep this as a mediterranean herb bed so all the plants can have the same watering / soil conditions, and put the mint in another location. Could also look for some tarragon.

The bed is about 4m x 450mm and the wall behind is around 420mm

Plant sizes from RHS (Height & spread)

• Bay, Up to 7.5m (23ft) unless clipped (!)
• Rosemary, Ultimate height 1.5-2.5 metres Ultimate spread 1.5-2.5 metres
• Sage, Ultimate height 0.5-1 metres Ultimate spread 0.5-1 metres
• Lavendar, height 30cm-1m, spread 30cm-1.5m
• French Tarrragon Ultimate height, 0.5-1 metres, Ultimate spread,0.1-0.5 metres, Time to ultimate height, 2-5 years
• Oregano, Ultimate height 0.5-1 metres, Ultimate spread 0.5-1 metres, Time to ultimate height 2-5 years
• Thyme, Ultimate height 0.1-0.5 metres Ultimate spread 0.1-0.5 metres, Time to ultimate height 5-10 years
• Chives, Ultimate height, 0.1-0.5 metres, Ultimate spread, 0-0.1 metre, Time to ultimate height, 2-5 years

So if i aimed for the Bay, rosemary, lavender and sage to have 50cm of space, and the chives, tarragon, oregano and 3 thyme plants to have 30cm of space each that totals 3.8m which would fit nicely in the bed.

I am thinking of planting them in the following patter, so roughly the height will drop from left to right (i have a fence on the left and steps coming down from the patio on the right.

How does this layout look?

[Rapscallion]

Have just remembered i have a bronze fennel in a pot, so the layout could look like this. Allowing 50cm for the

Bay, rosemary, lavender and sage, 40cm for the fennel and the chives, tarragon, oregano and 3 thyme plants to have 30cm of space each that totals 4.2m which is the exact size of the bed.

[Jay-ell]

Busy thread and there's only one person posting

Remember that the ultimate spread may not be achieved due to location, soil, pruning and harvesting. You could fill up the gaps with annuals such as chervil, coriander and parsley - at least till everything gets established and bigger.

How established are the plants in the bottom bed? You need to make sure that you take a big enough root ball with them so you don't damage it but they should transplant,

You're right about mint liking wetter conditions. I'd also grow it in it's own container because it would happily romp along the entire raised bed taking it over it you gave it the chance.

The chives don't need to be in a large clump - you could spread them out along the edge as well for a more blended look (the plants will blend into each other anyway once grown). The fennel and Bay (if growing as a standard) may have more space underneath them to take a few chives as well (chives do fine in a bit of shade)