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Author Topic: Useless with herbs  (Read 3609 times)

suziequeue

  • Joined Feb 2010
  • Llanidloes; Powys
Useless with herbs
« on: July 03, 2010, 06:49:17 pm »
I just don't seem to be able to get herbs going. I really want to do the ol' parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme and mint thing. Especially the sage to put in my sausages etc.

They keep going all droopy and leggy on me. Is there any particular soil I should be using?

Have just been bunging them in pots of standard compost from the garden centre.

Thanks

Susanna

We do the best we can with the information we have

When we know better we do better

Wizard

  • Joined Nov 2009
  • North East Lincolnshire
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2010, 06:52:28 pm »
Have you any garsen suzie Sage seems to like being in the garden I also have had no luck at all with sage in boxes or pots Grows like mad up the side of the path to the front door. ??? :D :farmer:
Don't do today what can be put off until tomorrow because today will be yesterday tomorrow

suziequeue

  • Joined Feb 2010
  • Llanidloes; Powys
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2010, 06:56:10 pm »
Oh right - I have a little spot for it then. I'll put it in tomorrow.

Thanks :-)

Susanna
We do the best we can with the information we have

When we know better we do better

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2010, 08:08:34 pm »
Use it - the more you trim it, the better it seems to grow! :)

little blue

  • Joined Jun 2009
  • Derbyshire
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2010, 08:48:03 pm »
huh, mine barely germinates!
have now stopped trying, so I can concentrate on the veggies....
Little Blue

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
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Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #5 on: July 04, 2010, 12:47:54 am »
I made a herb wheel with an old cartwheel I got at a roup (Displenish sale)  Just ordinary soil with 6 different herbs between the spokes.  Thyme, mint, chives, fennel all took over.  Rosemary got choked and one other - can't remember what it was.  But while they were all growing it looked lovely.  Rosemary's right, cut and come again as much as you like, amybe I didn't use the others enough.  Eventually bought a rosemary tree instead and that survived separately in atub.
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Wizard

  • Joined Nov 2009
  • North East Lincolnshire
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #6 on: July 04, 2010, 09:21:56 am »
Hello Blue, Annie love Good Morning.This is one of the things that every one has different ideas on. My opinion only and my practice. If its a bush Rosemary or Thyme (Hard stalks) for instance scrounge one from a friend or buy a small growing one from the garden center.If its one of the many Mints set a slip in a pot in the garden to contain it, but DO NOT SET IT FREE IT WILL TAKE OVER IN 3/4 YEARS AND IT IS WORSE TO GET RID OF THAN TWITCH (COUCH GRASS TO YOU MAYBE) Soft herbs like basil and coriander will grow fine in a pot but use soil with a bit of compost mixed in.Mine seem to like it better than all compost.Have a go it costs little but time and thats another season lost dear dear :wave:
Don't do today what can be put off until tomorrow because today will be yesterday tomorrow

egbert

  • Joined Jan 2010
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #7 on: July 04, 2010, 09:59:04 pm »
Any help with coriander - I came across mine in a forgotten corner and its about 2 foot tall - well long as its lying flat to the floor - and spindly, and going yellow near the root. The larger parts of the stem are green still. Should I cut it off and dry it (how?) - if I cut it back to close to the soil, will it carry on growing? 

I have lots of lovely herbs growing - I just cant use them all fast enough!  ::)  I also planted some russian tarragon, not realising its the french thats better - the russian is growing well, but then I found out it needs containing!  :(

suziequeue

  • Joined Feb 2010
  • Llanidloes; Powys
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #8 on: July 04, 2010, 11:19:49 pm »
Yes - I have noticed that the rosemary seems to have been squashed by the exuberant growth of the thyme (which it's sharing a pot with currently) - which in turn is being sat on by the tomatoes (everything is a bit crowded and higgledy piggledy in the polytunnel at the moment!).

So - I have planted out the sage and thyme. I will keep the mint, rosemary and parsley in their own little pots and see what happens.

THanks

Susanna

We do the best we can with the information we have

When we know better we do better

Wizard

  • Joined Nov 2009
  • North East Lincolnshire
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2010, 07:15:58 am »
Mornin Egbert Coriander is one of the soft ones I spoke of  just sprinkle some seeds in a 6"-9" pot cover them lightly and water them in they grow like a wild fire in 3 weeks set some more and just keep going when they are 6"tall your next lot is coming on nicely no need to use nasty stringy ones you have a succession of nice fresh ones.I think myself it is worth finding out about herbs some like room to grow others like to be cramped together.Some like mints lemon balm and the like must be in pots sunk in the garden if you have one don't let them loose.Suzie I had a Rosemary bush that if you can imagine it would have filled a six foot cube its trunk was 3" thick the lads pulled it up with a Land Rover a couple of years back.Got 2 new ones now which I will keep trimmed to 18" cubes If you follow my posts you will know I have no garden to talk of the herbs all grow along side the path to the front door.Mint for mint sauce is a strange thing to grow in a pot it will grow for several years then for no apparent reason it will die so I always take 2 or 3 slips and get them going in separate pots every year Some one always wants a mint plant.I at the moment with all this hot weather am having some success with my cues they look to be fine this year :D :farmer: :wave:
Don't do today what can be put off until tomorrow because today will be yesterday tomorrow

suziequeue

  • Joined Feb 2010
  • Llanidloes; Powys
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #10 on: July 05, 2010, 02:22:33 pm »
Thanks for the advice Wizard. I have been putting the mint and parsley out in bigger pots today and won't be discouraged when my mint gives up the ghost in a few years time. I will put the thyme near the sage on the edge of the grassy bit (can't really call it a lawn!)

Keen to get going on a rosemary bush. Can that go in a pot?

Susanna

We do the best we can with the information we have

When we know better we do better

egbert

  • Joined Jan 2010
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #11 on: July 05, 2010, 02:50:11 pm »
Oh Dear - I think I have planted mine all wrong then  :-\


I have some small squares for planting up against the house, which has a path all round, so in one I have a mint. But I guess that could soon root under the path and come up the other side?

Then in another I have a lemon balm - and a curry plant which I was quite excited about, then read that they are inedibile and purely ornamental!  :(

Then in the large bed with the voracious rosa ragosa I am trying to get rid of, I have a Russian Tarragon (the french is in a pot) and an oregano. Not sure about the oregano but the tarragon should probably be in a pot.

Then in a pot ( :D  ) I have thyme, basil, sage and the coriander.

So, sounds like I need to rearrange them all a bit!  :o

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #12 on: July 05, 2010, 10:12:30 pm »
Lemon balm is good in small quantities as part of a mixed herb tea, but will seed everywhere.  The only herbs which need to be contained, although not necessarily in a pot, are mint and tarragon.  This summer I have lost many herbs because they have got too dry in pots and I have been overwhelmed with too many other plants to water.   I am hoping to make a herb garden later this year but it's usually so wet here that it will have to be a raised feature with masses of gravel added to the soil for the drought lovers. It won't have a curry plant in though as I hate their smell, but it will have loads of golden marjoram which is my favourite herb  :)
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #13 on: July 05, 2010, 10:22:10 pm »
We've got lovage, which smells lovely. No idea what to do with it - someone suggested lettuce and lovage soup ???

Oregano seeds like mad - I planted some for the bees and it's everywhere.

Wizard

  • Joined Nov 2009
  • North East Lincolnshire
Re: Useless with herbs
« Reply #14 on: July 06, 2010, 07:05:26 am »
Rosemary Good morning It still has not rained here its getting serious.Lovage a very old cottage garden herb.Grandma H used to swear by it "It does you good boy keeps you clean inside"What ever that means.We used to have Egg and Lovage salad.Hard boil 1/2 a dozen eggs shell and place in cold water.Now a days I have a Zyliss Auto chop a wonderfull tool so I often refer to CHOP so chop 2 or 3 spring onions - chop enough lovage to make 2/3 T/spn also 1 T/spn parsley.A Tbl/spn of chives Make about a cupfull of salad cream / Mayo: Go mad do it with Creme Fresh s&p to suit your taste.Mix the herbs etc; in a bowl.The eggs are cool now chop them up and mash them mix in the herb mixture add the Mayo and mix well It's good on 3/4" thick slices of French Bread or these Baguettes sliced through Try some on top of some leaves with a Knife and fork

Make a Potato Soup
Peel and cut into 1/2" dice some potato In a Thick base pan melt a tbl/spn; of butter when its hot tip in the potato cubes and cook stirring all the time so they DO NOT BROWN cookfor 5/6 minutes then add a pint of boiling water stir well and simmer.Chop a dessert spn; of Lovage add this and a generous shake of S&P and stir well and cook for 1/2 an hour until the potato is over cooked.Remove from the cooker and blitz to a nice thick creamy texture stir in a small pot of cream and serve Make it look pretty with a sprinkle of chopped lovage and parsley.
Now shout at me this should be in recipes ??? ;D :farmer:
« Last Edit: July 08, 2010, 06:51:21 am by Wizard »
Don't do today what can be put off until tomorrow because today will be yesterday tomorrow

 

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