Should I get a bigger pot?

I planted three small herbs in a large container about three weeks ago. .97 cent size sweet basil, oregano, and rosemary. Now it seems that the oregano has spread out twice its original size and the basil was growing so tall that it was bending over. I finally had to snip and disgard (since I don't cook with it often) the tops, but the hearty little bugger is growing back up again.

The rosemary seems to be the only plant that isn't spreading like a weed. I like the idea of grouping the herbs together as it seems to keep water loss to a minimum and looks nice and lush, but will they start to overcrowd soon? What happens when they run out of room? Will they stop growing so fast or will it kill them off? I don't want to kill the plants, but I also don't want to end up with a basil and oregano farm.

Nice looking pot--the basil is flawless (large-leafed basils seem never to be that perfect this time of year for me down here) but I'm not seeing any rosemary there...

The rosemary is on the left, I think, behind the oregano. :-)

Rosemary can tend to just sit for a few weeks after it's transplanted before it takes off and starts to grow. One rosemary plant could readily fill that pot on its own by the end of summer, but I think it will be fine with the competition, it will just not grow quite as much. Keep pinching back the basil... it's your most vigorous grower since it's an annual. I leave only 2 pairs of leaves on each stem/branch, as DeBaggio suggests, and this also helps keep it from flowering. The more you pinch it, the bushier it will get, too.

The oregano can also be pinched back regularly to make it bushier and to keep it in bounds. If you have more roots on the oregano clump, it's easier to limit its share of the pot by simply dividing the plant and removing a portion to plant elsewhere or to give away. It will probably layer itself in the pot, but you can help it along by pushing longer stems firmly against the soil, or even stripping the leaves from a portion of the stem and burying that part. If you take a division that has only small roots, let it grow for a while in a little pot (2 inch), and plant it out after it has filled its little pot with roots.

So.... pinch, pinch, pinch! If the oregano and the basil continue to overwhelm the rosemary, you can always put the rosemary in a pot of its own.

Have fun with your herb pot -- it's beautiful!

You're right Critterologist...the rosemary is hiding out in the back. When I first planted this pot, all of the plants were the same size and therefore easy to see. I didn't think the other two would be so vigorous.

Thanks everyone for the compliments...I myself am just shocked it's still alive, considering my background and black thumb.