Herb Garden

[sleepygreg]

With the opportunities to go fishing very limited of late, and having just moved in to a new place, decided that I was sick of paying $2 or $3 a bunch for basic herbs every time I wanted to cook something (especially when you never use the complete bunch and finish up throwing most of it away). The other factor being - last minute decisions on a meal often resulted in the green grocer being out of the herb you needed.

Bit the bullet and headed down to Bunnings and bought some plastic pots and a couple of bags of potting mix, and some corriander, parsley and mint seedlings. (this was two weeks ago). Anyways - the seedlings are going berserk - so bought some more pots and have planted out Thyme, Rosemary, Vietnamese mint, Thai Basil, Oregano, Chives and Shallots. Also got a chilli plant - but havent potted that one yet (one pot shy of what I needed). Looks like its going to be an interesting time coming up with lots of experimenting on the cooking front.

I am interested in hearing if any one else has a potted herb garden and what type of herbs you grow.

Greg

[MudRiverDan]

I don't have any but my mom does, I would if I had a garden, herbs are very very hardy and they will grow like wildfire.
Better off getting them in the ground as herbs grow so quick they will get root bound in a pot.

[cormorant]

Let the parsley ( curly and straight) and corriander go to seed at the end and learn how to dry seeds and you'll have them for life.

We always have enough to do a quick Tabbouleh even in winter as we have cherry tomatoes in the greenhouse down here in the winter. . Bok Choys ,any asian greens and english spinach are great to throw in a laksa or soup and you can just keep picking leaf by leaf. We do some lettuce but if we don't keep a eye on the caterpillers and snails they get more than we do as we don't use poisons. The 2 bluetounges like the herb patch but we think they get stoned on sage oil , lavander or something as I've seen snails move infront of them and they sometimes just stare. We have a couple of pipes, other cover and logs to encourage them to stay.

The favourites are little sweet radishes , they can be done on tubs or foam broccoli boxes.

We probably spend more on em in the garden initially but compared to the wilted flavourless rubbish we used to throw out unused each week it is worth it for very little effort if you have a sunny spot

Most of our fertiliser comes from a wormfarm and compost heap ( veges require more and rotation) . Mate does hydropoincs on his fence in stormwater pipes and I'm amazed how much he gets for his family in lettuce and leafy stuff.

[sleepygreg]

I agree about getting them in the ground - but I am in a rental property with no established garden beds, and only intend to be here until my house is built - so for the time being pots are the go. They also give that 'homely feel' bordering the outdoor entertaining area. If they are successful, might even add some pots with some basic veges in them - tomatoes, capsicums, beans, etc.

Greg

PS - they are rather large pots I have them in.

[sleepygreg]

Once I get into the new home, I will get the whole vege scene going - including the hydroponics for the fancy lettuce and asian greens. I am also interested in companion planting - to avoid using sprays to control bugs. There are a couple of biological sprays available to control caterpillars, will have to do some research on them again. Radishes take me back to my childhood - we used to grow them as kids, as well as nasturtioms(sp) for a tasty adition to salads.

[bennykenny]

i have quite a large vege garden in my yard, ive grown basil, rocket, parsley and corriander in the past and let them go to seed, which i do collect, but i also let them spread though out the yard, now they are self sowing, which means at any time i can go down the back and pick some fresh corriander for a laksa or basil for my pasta sauces. Corriander loves a sandy soil, the more sand the better,i have some in almost complete sand, and will quickly go to seed if its too hot, winter to spring i find is the best time to grow it.
on a second note i had my first aspargus for the season come up yesterday, gee i love spring time. cheers BK

[Apollo]

Greg

We have several herb gardens here and the one bit of advice I can give, is to keep the mint in a pot. Bloody hell that stuff can spread once in the ground. Was halfway across the chook pen before it took to it. Ended up a three way battle between the mint, the sweet potatoe vine and the pumpkin vine.

[bennykenny]

Greg

Ended up a three way battle between the mint, the sweet potatoe vine and the pumpkin vine.

sweet potato and mint is worse than wandering jew, talk about invasive. my sweet potato got through the fence to the neighbours and its still going.

[marto78]

Sweet potatoes are a bastard to get rid of if you decide you dont want them anymore.

A tip with the basil is to break the seeds off of the plant and it will keep growing.

Another friendly way to get rid of unwanted pests is to mix up a bit of chilli and garlic with some water in a spray bottle and wet your plants with that, it wont harm you or the plants but the grasshoppers can't stand it.

[SWANO1]

hey greg try the black russian tomatoes from bunnings , ive been growing them in the big pots for a few seasons now and they have the richest taste, just whack a bit of chook poop or something same every few weeks. kids love growing raddishes as they are pretty rapid growing and with a bit of malt vinegar and sea salt mmmmmmmmmmmm.
cheers swano

[sleepygreg]

Hey Swano - was looking at them the other day - might be just the ideal thing for a pot. Thanks

Greg

[deepfried]

Hi Greg
Vietnamese coriander is great but can be invasive. It lasts through summer and doesnt have the problem of bolting to seed so you always have a supply. More authentic taste as well.
Another one i like is lemon myrtle. Great lemon taste that can be used finely chopped or infused in oil. It is a tree though so i normally leave it in a pot and keep it trimmed.
Kaffir lime is awesome in asian cooking and is suited to pots. It takes some time to get to a decent size but well worth it as you only need a leaf or two for most recipes.
Tuscan Blue rosemary goes well in a pot also. Great for the lamb roasts.

[cormorant]

totally forgot about rosemary and we have a 10m border of it used all the time and no need to buy plants as you just chop off a stem, strip the lower leaves and strike 20 in a new pot. Grows roots and next season lots and lots.

Lemon grass is one we use a bit a swell. Hit and miss over the years with different varieties

Deepfried - will try and find some vietnamese coriander as I don't have any.

Really makes a average meal for us top class with the addition of a few fresh herbs and picking fresh salad greens , radish rocket,parsley makes a sandwich or salad with flavour again. Nothing more amazing watching friends kids shell a pea for the first time and eat em raw. Half the time the parents want them to wash em- arghhhhhh city folk. Simple pleasures lost.

Never stop learning with a vege and herb garden. Have 6 beds we rotate and even our failures are better than supermarket gruel

Not worth it for only a short rental but there is a stackable pots / tub system , sort of star shaped ( looking from the top) pyramid that takes up very little ground area as the herbs are all stacked vertically. Friends had a crop of strawberries in it to die for and was great for their mum who couldn't bend down - no idea what it was called.

[PinHead]

what a disgusting subject..about a month back my wife looked at the unused bit of land up on top of the retaining wall..8m x 4.5m..what does she decide she wants? A herb garden. And who is the idiot that had to dig it all up and get rid of the weeds etc..and very soon have to get some soil and put it in there. You get one guess..and the clue is, it is not her.

[netmaker]

hey pinhead,

see if greg can do it for you. he seems to be on a mission.