Herb garden in development..

Gram ~ don't throw it out. This came back from roots, yours may well do the same?

I'm still watering it. I never throw anything out LOL

I have a pot of lemon balm that looks like it's waking up, too! Just have to decide whether to keep it in a pot or put it in the ground. I planted the rose bushes all around the bed so I could put things in the ground. Do you know if anise hyssop comes back? I'd grown some seedlings last year and they got about 1/2" tall and they're still 1/2" tall but still green! I'm very puzzled.

no idea on that one. I have a pot of rose hyssop in the house. also looks dead. I think it's just too dry in the house for some of the herbs. I did read parsley doesn't like to be brought in. I have 3 little pots and only 1 is still showing green. my mints & ornamental oreganos are fine.

Brigidlily ~ Anise hyssop is a perennial. No experience here but Southern Herb Growing says it is an easy to grow hardy plant in southern gardens. Should grow to approx 3 feet. I love the bloom color and will patiently await your bloom photos.
Gram ~ Rose hyssop? Does it smell like roses? And what color are the blooms?

pod, it's just the color of the flowers, a rosy pink. I got it at Hazzard's last fall for .79 just because the picture looked pretty and it's perennial in my zone. they carry pink & blue, but not the anise.

Bridg if you need plants have you tried the nursery off of 11th st exit in Beaumont? Think it's name is Snell? Not sure what they have but I know they have some herbs and even tomato plants this time of year.

I've been by there -- it's Shell Nursery. They're usually closed by the time I get off work. I did go by M&D yesterday, got 2 roma tomatoes, 2 arugulas, and a few little herbs just to hedge my bets. My luck with seedlings hasn't been running high. They'll start like gangbusters but either I do something wrong or "germination rate" doesn't have a lot to do with "survival rate"!

I made some alfalfa tea two days ago, and got up this morning and gave all the roses and some of the other stuff a nice drink. We'll see how they like it!

My rosemary (picture above, in the "west" quadrant) almost died because I'd had it in the bed and put it into a pot so I could radically amend the soil. It's back in the bed now, and getting beautiful. I'm so glad it survived. I'm scared of putting a lot of the herbs into the ground so I plan to keep a lot in pots. That way, until the roses get big enough to provide shade, I can at least put them on the porch during the really brutal days. This could turn into a hardy flower garden rather than a herb garden, which would be fine.

Do you need Tomato plants? I have tons extra please don't buy any when we can meet up someplace and I can give you anything you what that I have...almost 99% heirloom and I have 18 different types.

Your garden is going to be so pretty, again you can't see my yard ever since I know you'll freak at how bad it is..

As far as seedlings go I have a new book by Thomas DeBaggio your more than welcome to come and look at, still haven't finished it but it has some grand ideas for starting herb seedlings.

Hey, araness, I just replied to your d-mail. I appreciate it. My garden has come a long way, and who knows if it will work? It gets mighty hot for herbs here, as you know! I can't remember who said it, but I have to keep it in mind -- "eat the elephant one bite at a time!"

There's also a great book called "Herbs for Texas" and I can't recall the author but it is an absolute wealth of information. I don't think I could do without it.

Hi,
I never posted here but have to say I did not know it was here... I am kinda sorta new and I find new things every day.... I just wanted to say your herb garden is beautiful...It also gave me some good ideas... Just beautiful...
Susan

Thanks, Susan! And don't just lurk -- jump on in. The hijacking of threads is part of the fun. How about pictures of yours?

I dont have much to show but I am getting better each year... this will be going on my third year of trying to do this right...LOL I alway do the yards and have for so many years I cant remember but now the planting my hubby always like to do but he would throw it in the ground and that was it... Well I love playing in dirt and just sounds silly to some but I get my best talks,prayers, and just plane comfort from the dirt. and now also my second son is also loving it and HELPS me tons.... so we are putting in two new beds this year...one for the Dahlia raised bed and then also a butteryfly garden...I want them both in a raised bed and need help with this for never did before but hey I CAN DO IT....LOL also have David and hubby will help also... I am getting so many new plants and learning so much it just blows the mind...LOL I am doing a herb garden and have to read more up on it but I am putting in it what is called a stackable pots...I have one in the house for some of my house flowers and just love it... I will try to get a picture of that later to send here.... I have a new one coming and I plan to use it for my herbs.. I just done know allot about them yet... like what types are best for there are so many diffrent names it hard for a newbe to choose..LOL
Thanks for the welcome and will be back
SUsan

Susan, choosing depends on what you want to do with yours. Do you cook with fresh herbs? If not, do you want to? Or do you just want to enjoy them for their fragrance or flowers?

jan (aka gram)

If you haven't read them already, get Louise Riotte's books on companion planting. Your library may well have them -- Roses Love Garlic and Carrots Love Tomatoes. They really are great, and show you what you should interplant with other things. I just sowed some nasturtium seeds where I'm going to plant gourds in a couple of weeks -- they supposedly keep squash bugs away and I had the little buggers last year. I probably shouldn't plant anything this year -- just amend and amend and amend, as I moved in less than a year ago and the builders destroyed everything and replaced it with sod over sand. Grrrrrrrrrr. But I can't help myself!

It must be nice to have help! And I most definitely agree with you on the spiritual quality of dirt!!! I think everyone here does.

I tucked a few herbs and a couple of tomatoes and cayenne peppers into the garden over the weekend. Photos won't show them, they're so small yet, but when you can actually see them I'll post. Also sowed some marigolds and calendula -- hopefully that will keep some of the bugs away.

Jan,
Not sure what I want to do with them yet...LOL I do cook with spices so would not mind trying these new things.... I also want for the smell... I guess I should put outside once weather gets warm huh? I did get some herb seeds off the internet I just need to really read more... I am just out of surgery 2 weeks now so things here have been going kinda slow... sooooo once I stop feeling pukey I will read,read,read...LOL
Thanks Jan, and any info is great...
Susan

I mean to cook with them, but mainly I just like growing things! When the oregano gets out of hand, people up at work seem to be happy to take it off my hands.

What type of gourds are you going to grow? I like that now... lastyear I grew one type birdhouse for the first time and I did pretty good ... I sent my extras to a lady who used them ... now this year I plain on growing allot of diffrent ones... so wish me luck..
Susan

I have seeds for wine pipette gourds and small dipper gourds which I'm going to grow on a cattle panel arch, and bushel gourds I plan to put on my one stretch of ground (the rest is all taken up with various gardens). I have a mess of dried gourds ready to do something with, and plan to make musical instruments (most likely just for show) out of them. This may be the last year I grow gourds for a while. If the borers don't get them (and I learned how to deal with them last year) the arch should be beautiful, all covered with those vines. Then I may put plastic sheeting over the arch and make a greenhouse of it.

OK, spill!! How did you deal with the borers? I have a terrible problem with them here and have pretty much given up on growing the affected varieties... How many gardeners have to beg zucchini from their neighbors? LOL

I don't mean to take this thread so far O/T... but if you could just please post a link, or put your solution on a thread over in the Veggie forum, I'd be extremely grateful!

When you see that little pile that looks like wet sawdust, take a razor blade and slit the vine until you see the little SOB. He should be within about 2 - 3" from the ground. Pull him out with a toothpick and put him where the birds can see him. (muah haha...) Then tape the slit in the vine up, put in a popsicle stick splint if necessary. Get a garden staple and, a little farther up the vine, press the vine onto the ground so it can form some more roots if it needs to. It will send more down wherever it touches earth.

Susan, hope you're feeling better soon. I'd start off with some things you know you'd like for cooking, basil is an easy annual from seed and there are so many varieties, and they are pretty plants. Mints & oreganos are easy to grow, but be prepared to contain them because they are spreaders. Same with chives...very useful, and pretty if you let it bloom, but invasive. Thyme is one of my favorites, again there are many varieties. Most cannot be grown from seed, but you may be able to get cuttings. Can't be lavender for fragrance and it shouldn't be too much of a problem in your zone. Some rosemarys may be hardy for you. here's a couple of sites with good info even if you don't want to buy ~ jan

http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/
http://www.wellsweep.com/
http://www.papagenos.com/
http://www.thymegarden.com/site/561124/page/45029

UPDATE! Not too much to show, but a few little differences. First the wide view:

North, where I added a few lettuces and marigolds. If you look closely, a ring of alliums is coming up around the pretty girl, and a few at the gnome's feet:

East -- white geraniums around the angel, some parsley and garlic chives:

South -- I put in some tomato and basil too early and don't know if they'll survive (at the back, to the left) and you can see some nasturtiums peeking up around the chimenea (there are some coming up inside it, too):

And west, which I'll have to water VERY carefully -- pelargoniums flanking the rosemary, dittany of crete in the pot:

I also have chamomile sprinkled around the center paver, and alyssum along two of the paths. Hopefully they will form a carpet, at least until the heat takes all the life out of them. In the "east" one, that's comfrey coming up in the big pot and "south" has catnip and lemon balm coming up right at the front edge. Once these things fill in (oh, please, please, please...) it should be beautiful.

You're doing such a great job of developing your plan for this garden! We're all waiting with you to see it fill in and thrive... :-)

Thanks for the tip on dealing with the borers. Perhaps I'll try again!

Delightful selection of plants! What type of Allium?

Thanks, critter, it's the thriving part that has me worried, of course. I read in another thread that plants begin to stress at 86F -- and it was that here yesterday! Ouch. I mean, I'm SO glad to be able to garden already, but the summer here is so looooooooooooooong...

I successfully got rid of borers on my squashes last year using that method. I think pinning the vine to the ground so it can make new roots is the key. Then most of the squash got blossom end rot while I wasn't looking. Ah, well. Constant vigilance is hard when you have a job!

Oh, pod, I'm so bad about writing down the cultivar. I just ordered a bunch from Park's and put them in. Maybe we'll have a name-that-allium contest when they bloom. The winner gets a carrot seed.

I just stumbled onto this thread and have to say "WOW"!. It is so hard to keep a project that size going. You should be so proud. I just was able to glance around here and there, but if you are still looking for a carpeting thyme, try "Reiters Pink Creeping". I live on the Gulf Coast - semi-tropical and have always had a hard time with thyme (pardon the pun). I put this in last fall and it is expanding nicely. It gets about 8 hours of sun each day, but my herb bed is shaded from the sun during the July/August afternoons.

Thanks for sharing!

Ginia

Thanks so much for the tip! I've put a little CT in and just can't hold out much hope. But if it can be done, I do want it.

I'm shading it some by putting in the rose bushes, and am seriously thinking about setting in arches to cross over the middle. I've seeded the very center with chamomile and it's sprouting and I really don't want the heat to kill it. I'll find that thyme and put it in at least one of the paths.

Thanks for the compliments, too. It's a big job, but if it works it will be well worth it.

brig, coming along nicely. you have tons of herbs going in there. how are the roses doing? it's going to be sooooo pretty.

hard for me to believe it was 86 there. 16 here. but it's 40 today (yay!)

Have you innoculated your roses and other plants with beneficial mycorrhizae? This helps reduce drought stress and builds the soil. Deep tilling destroys the soil mycorrhizae, so new beds need to be reinnoculated.
Increasing the beneficial microbes in your soil will help your plants deal with the weather extremes.

http://www.mycorrhiza.com/index.php?cid=23

Thanks, gram -- 40 degrees is no longer conceivable down here. It gets into the 50s at night, but it won't even get that low very soon. I think we're in for a long summer.

Thanks for the link, g_m -- I want to do whatever needs doing!

And now -- drumroll, please -- I BUILT THE ARCH!!!!! It's not finished yet (which will make my chiropractor happy, of course) but if I can get some passifloras established on these, the chamomile around the center paver may survive. It will provide shade, feed the Gulf Frittilaries (sp?) and hopefully be beautiful. What do y'all think?

There will be more cross pieces, and I plan to coil rope around the bright green stakes. I'm holding it together with zip ties which are ugly and will eventually at least cover them with twine. At least they're nice and strong. My sweetie and I went out poaching for the saplings. No one will ever know.

brigidlily, this just gets better and better. what a great idea!! will any of the passifloras be perennials for you? I'm trying Maypop (passiflora incarnata) this year in hopes of inticing a few more of the flutterbyes.

I'm under the impression they'll be perennial -- I need to read over the literature again, but I'm thinking you cut them back at some point and they grow again. We shall see...

Okay! For those still interested, it's time for the April update! I had to do some rearranging when I realized the "north" quadrant was in the west, but there you go. Here's a picture of the whole thing, taken from the back porch. I've put a passiflora at the base of the arbor in the west and south parts --

Edited to say that's a hummingbird feeder hanging on the arbor. I have a scout who's been checking it out!



This message was edited Apr 2, 2007 10:57 AM