Herbs - what is easy and grows well?

[Shirley U Geste]

I'm venturing out into growing some herbs this season.  All are going to be in containers/pots and will get lots of sun.

I now have a big pot with cilantro. I love the stuff and use it all the time so that one as a no-brainer for me to start with.

Also have some spearmint that I will be putting in today. Love it in tea and I love how it smells.

What have you found that is easy to grow, grows well and produces a lot? A nice looking plant is a bonus. 

[sunsetpainter]

I always do basil and parsley in pots near my deck (full sun). They do well for me. I did cilantro last year but I think I forgot to water that one and it sort of cooked in the sun. (Oops!)

I have a pot of chives that is about 25 years old. Watch where you put those if they bloom...they will drop seeds everywhere and start growing into little chive plants!

I will only do mint in pots. I'm still fighting it in my garden from where it grew out of the bottom of the pot and started to spread. I have spearmint, peppermint and chocolate mint.

I have French thyme and lemon thyme that I grow as ground cover in my landscaping. I can pick some when I need it and it smells so good!

[val2525]

Basil, several varities. Thyme. Oregano, also several varieties. Rosemary. You see rosemary and lavender a lot up here as part of regular landscaping since it can handle our winters. Smells great after it rains.

Which reminds me. I should put herbs outside the patio wall this year, that's where my best sun is. I had hibiscus there last summer.

[zoesam]

Hard to kill thyme & chives. In fact, I had to purposely kill them b/c they won't stop growing.

Basil, I have good years & not so good years. I've finally decided to just buy it, it's not worth it for me to grow, but I don't enjoy gardening.

Mint also grows like crazy, but requires more watering, be sure it's in a pot!

[Deleted]

Don't forget a pot of catnip. It's very easy to grow and your kitties will love you forever!

[Shirley U Geste]

I didn't even think of basil, but since I am doing tomatoes this year it would be perfect for salads.

Thyme I don't use much of, maybe I will try that one next year.

Chives sound good. I have a rectangular pot they would look nice in.

Everything will be in pots around the perimeter of the raised flower garden. That way when the garden gets watered they do too and I don't have to lug a hose or watering can. In the middle of the summer is gets so hot that I sometimes have to water twice a day, so I try to do it the easiest way possible.

Sunset, does the chocolate mint really taste like chocolate? I saw it when I got the spearmint plants but have never used it before and wondered about it.

[Shirley U Geste]

Oh no, no catnip for me.

Someone gave me a plant one year and I had to put it up as a hanging plant to keep all the neighborhood cats out of it. Even then they all came to the yard because of the smell. It was insane, all these cats yowling and roaming in the yard and my inside cats were going nuts.

[val2525]

Pineapple mint is cool too, really good in chicken and milder fish dishes

[kritter]

I had several pots of catnip last year and my outside cats were virtually eating it down to the roots.

Since I don't cook, no herb farm here.

[sunsetpainter]

The chocolate mint I had really had a mild taste when I made tea with it.  I like the spearmint better.  But it sort of smelled like a York Peppermint Patty bar.  It wasn't as hardy as the other mints I have and only lasted a few years.

I bought 2 patio blueberry plants last year and am really hoping they make it.

[Deleted]

Another vote for basil - easy to grow & great with fresh tomatoes later in the summer. We grow herbs in pots on the screened in porch that gets morning sun. The basil does well as do chives & mint & parsley. I find I don't use the herbs as much in cooking as I think I will. We grew rosemary but hardly used it. I may try the lavender this year

[sunsetpainter]

We don't care too much for rosemary, but use the basil for pesto and bruschetta.  I planted the lavender for the flowers.  I press them and use them when making greeting cards.

[kat]

I grow dill now, since it was $6 for a sad container of it a couple years ago in the produce dept. I like it in Greek sauces.
I also love to grow every variety of basil I can get my hands on. I love it so much.

[sunsetpainter]

Kat, do you grow your dill in pots or in the ground? My neighbor had it planted around her garden and it seemed to go crazy with spreading.

[Deleted]

I put dill in the garden last year & it got really tall. I'm not sure how it would do in pots. Maybe it was just the variety I had. Our garden got way too wet last year & nothing did very well. We had a few raised beds that were okay. That's where the dill was. I think we're going to move the garden & do more raised beds this year so maybe I'll try some herbs there. Most of mine are in pots on the porch now.

[Shirley U Geste]

What kinds of basil have you tried?

I am familiar with the regular sweet Italian basil and will be trying that. The purple basil looks interesting too and would add nice color, is it easy to grow?

[mupcycledcouture]

If you plant your basil right next to your tomatoes, your tomatoes will be sweeter.

I do parsley, oregano, thyme (super easy to grow),basil and cilantro. I want to put some rosemary in somewhere.

[Shirley U Geste]

If you plant your basil right next to your tomatoes, your tomatoes will be sweeter.

Great to know, thanks.  I do have room over beside the tomato to put some pots.

I see a lot of Caprese salads in my future for the summer.

Which is great, because when it gets to 90 degrees plus there is no way I will turn on the stove.

[jandsknight]

More votes here for basil, rosemary and the mints.

We grow basil in pots, the rest in the ground as they're perennial. Other perennials that do well for us are oregano, sage, chives and Mexican mint marigold. The mint marigold tastes almost like French tarragon which won't grow here in central Texas.

[mupcycledcouture]

This site has great info about herbs.

growing-herbs.com/default.html

[Shirley U Geste]

Thanks that is a great site.

I think I am going to go with 2 kinds of basil and some chives.

Added to the cilantro and mint I already have that is about as much change as I can handle for one season. Depending on how it goes I may add more next season.

[Deleted]

I do rosemary in the ground and it has become a bush that comes back each year.  I also do italian parsley and oregano in the ground.

Then I have a topsy turvy planter - in that I do dill, basil, cilantro and I forget the other thing.  it does well but last year the groundhogs really enjoyed it.  I have a tiny vase that hangs next to my kitchen window and each week all summer i clip the herbs and put them in the vase.  the whole kitchen smells good and they are at my fingertips to use.

I do think this year if I have a good crop of herbs I will freeze some.

I also love caprese anything!

[Shirley U Geste]

Roy, do you freeze them whole or do you do the ice cube method?

[val2525]

Shirley, the rosemary should be year-round for you, or at least come back every sping (if ground planted). Here, it's an all year plant if it's in a protected location and established before the first hard freeze hits. Same for lavender up here. Do you guys get as cold as we do in the winter?

[Shirley U Geste]

Rosemary works here as a good in ground shrub. I may put some in later in the season, but not in the flower garden itself, they take up too much room. We are a bit warmer down here then you are, you get the fun snow and we rarely get much at all.

[val2525]

East of us and Santa Fe gets the snow. I get the wind. Bleah.

[Shirley U Geste]

Oh we get wind, lots and lots of wind.

The spring winds are just starting up, supposed to be around 40+ mph tomorrow.   

The dust is gonna get all stirred up and get in everything again.  But that is pretty much the only bad weather issues we have here so we just deal with it.

It does make gardening a challenge though, things dry out fast because of the winds and you have to watch plant placement or they get whipped to death.

[Deleted]

Shirley - I would just freeze the whole, although the ice cube method is a good idea, maybe I'll try that.

This winter was so cold here that I bet my rosemary died off.

We large one large koi and we never lose them.  They are hardy and live to an old age but the winter has been awful!!

[Deleted]

Don't forget catnip! I even make catnip 'tea' for our cat prone to FLUTD. He doesn't get as excited about the tea as he does catnip in its natural form, but he gets lured in by the scent and one he's at the bowl he'll drink it. The other could not care less about catnip in any form.

[SA]

Can't wait to get some of mine started. My basics are:
Basil, parsley, regular mint, rosemary and oregano. I have tried cilantro twice (in a different climate) and it failed miserably.

For the oregano, if I have it fresh on hand I tend to use it a whole lot more.