Herb gardens

I had a small herb garden outside this spring/summer in big pots. I can't ever seem to grow anything inside. And I didn't grow them from seed because that has never worked for me.

Let's see, I had: rosemary, thyme, mint, another kind of mint, basil, cilantro, parsley and sage. I used rosemary, thyme, cilantro and parsley the most. The sage and mint, I didn't really have any idea what to do with. And the basil was small, kind of buggy and not nearly big enough to make any amount of pesto with.

Because it was outside, it took no work to maintain. I just tried to snip off bits often, otherwise it would go to seed too fast (which is what ended up happening to the cilantro).

dude a bay tree is nigh on indestructible, you should get one of them at least (I've been using more bay lately, it's good)

we have all sorts, but Basil is a problem, if you use a lot you go through plants very rapidly.

Thyme is pretty hardy too, as is rosemary, and really easy to grow from cuttings - if I can anyone can

I don't really use bay much. Now that winter is coming I should start working on soups.

This year I gave up on growing vegetables, since my parents' vegetable garden gets bigger and bigger each year and they keep us well supplied, and started concentrating strictly on herbs. Two basil plants (and two more that volunteered in the spot where last year's basil was), two kinds of thyme, marjoram, chives, dill (which died as soon as it got really hot), parsley and sage were in the main herb bed; oregano and mint were put in containers since they're so invasive. And our rosemary bush is three years old now and huge; we have it in a pot that's big enough for a tree. It's so woody, and the winters here are so mild, that it never has to be covered or protected. The silver-edge thyme was even more amazing -- it started out in a 4" pot and now it owns a patch of ground 2' x 2'. I'm throwing handfuls of thyme in everything, including tuna salad and scrambled eggs.

It's a lot less work than a vegetable garden.

We have pots of herbs on the back patio - rosemary, oregano, thyme, lavendar, lemon grass, and mint have done really well. The parsley died a quick yellow death and we'd need 5 pots each to be able to cover our basil and cilantro needs.

I'm planning on drying the mint for tea and some of each of the other hardy herbs for the winter, but I'm not sure what to do with the lemon grass. Should it be frozen? Dried?

Jaq: if you chop up the lemongrass (I just throw mine into the food processor for a second) it freezes really well. you can just grab as much as you want out of the bag in the freezer.

all I've got here in Philly is a little thyme plant that I moved inside this week to live on my windowsill. in New Orleans I had oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, mint and tarragon. as a result, I am absolutely 100% insanely in love with fresh tarragon.

conversely, I realized that I prefer to use dried oregano, and really didn't use that plant much. discovered that marjoram--while very similar to oregano--is a much more versatile herb. fresh marjoram is great with fish, for example.

the mint we used quite a bit for mojitos and in yogurt sauce. other uses cropped up occasionally.

depending on where you live, basil is a snap to grow, black thumb or not, and you will wind up with far more than you can possibly use. (which is why I never grew any: kept getting it given to me by friends with too much)

Has anyone here ever tried to use a small Gro-lite to grow herbs in the kitchen? There are too many pests outside and I don't have time to tend the garden. I really want to grow fresh rosemary, basil, cilantro (coriander), and Italian (flat-leaf) parsley.

we have a window bok inside in the kitchen and it works ok, trhe basil plants have been largely plundered, but the rosemary is doing ok, if not spectacularly

My tarragon survived the winter! I didn't expect that. Everything's back except the basil.

I've just been out to look at what was my herb garden last year. After such a horrible, long and dank winter I wasn't hopeful but I see the fennel is just starting upgain and the sage is looking good. The thyme seems to have gone though.

last year we had parsley, cilantro, basil, chives, and dill all in window boxes. it was a bit tough to keep everything tended, and the dill and cilantro went to seed. from 5 or so basil plants we had way more than we really needed, and i think i've STILL got some pesto frozen. this year i think it will be basil, chives, and rosemary. i think those are the ones that are that give you the best value in terms of how much better they are fresh and how much a given plant will give you for what you need (parsely, for example, is not good because you need a lot, and each plant - at least ours - was tiny).

heh. i cant wait to get it going.