An Herbal expantion

While doing spring clean up, decided there just wasn't enough room for all those great must have herbs so I'm taking over another raised bed.

A couple of questions ,can one successfully transplant an old stand of bronze fennel(4years)?

gus, very wise to make more garden. ;) Don't know about fennel, though.

Gardengus, I had a bronze fennel planted in a pot for 2 years and transplanted it directly into the garden. It seemed to do well for about a month but I think shock overcame it. I didn't slowly adjust it to it's new area which had much more sun and it was rather root bound when I transplanted. Live and learn.

If it has to be moved, just go for it... this is probably a good time, since it's either still dormant or just waking up... try to get as big a scoop of dirt with the roots as you can, and I would think it would be OK... but I've never moved fennel either, just planted out young seedlings.

Is comfrey suppose to look like this? It's 4 years old this year ,and this is the first time I have noticed the big black roots above the ground.

What type of comfrey are you growing? The plant in your photo does not resemble the comfrey I know. Can you post a closeup of the leaves?

I tried looking up comfrey in the plant files , had no idea there were so many. Mine looks like the first one large leaves about a foot tall that droop. It has deep purple pendulous flowers. I grow it for goat feed.

Here's mine, in the big pot --

Re: Bronze Fennel - I have transplanted it with too much success. Now I am trying to dig the @#@##$ out. It grows about 6' tall and spreads babies all over the place.

brigidilily, I have been watching your thread ,what a nice herb garden. do you grow your comfrey in a pot because some say it is invasive?

cat , I to have had problem with the bronze fennel popping up all over ,I try to leave it where I can the swallowtail caterpillars love it so much.

I read somewhere that it can be VERY invasive, and if you leave a little bit of root in the ground, you have more comfrey. So that's mainly why I have it in a pot. The other reason is the sun beat the living daylights out of it last year, and I don't have a shady place to put it, so this way I can move it to the porch if I have to. The sun might not get to it as badly if it were in the ground, but altogether, until I get more familiar with the plant, I feel more comfortable confining it.

When I got that thing, it was just barely one leaf. It is finally flowering! I think it's pretty, and though I will be careful about taking it internally, it's nice to have if you get wounded while gardening. It's a good poultice in itself (crushed to release the juices) and I figure I can keep the aloe vera on using it as a bandage. Hope it never comes to that, but it's nice to know what's medicinal and what's not.

Mo enjoying the catmint.

Baptisia australis (false indigo) one of my favorites ,just coming up.

Oh, does Mo look comfy! What a sweetie.

Something new to keep me in the garden. My DH made this for me the other day completely out of scrap wood.To bad it is too cold to use it today , hi of 40 deg. low
tonight 21. Will have to cover my rosemary .

I have left Rosemary out with temps down to the 20's and no cover. It is amazingly tough. I was more cautious at first as I didn't want to lose it. I have two ~ an upright and a prostrate. The freezes have bothered neither... pod

Planted some roman chamomile the other day . Purchased some stevia and spicy globe basil ,but the garden was covered in snow when I made it back home yesterday. So I guess I'll just have to wait for warmer weather.

Every thing grows so fast I can't keep up.

cut some comfrey and it's over grown again.chives done blooming, and sorrel huge.

My comfrey eaters. Lucy and Murphy.

Lots of cilantro and bronze fennel volunteers.

When the walking onions start their tops they are almost garden art.

How delightful! I have a hunch Lucy and Murphy will keep the comfrey in check! LOL I agree with your garden art. Walking onions are delightful and as another DGr said, she also loved to watch the garlic blooms disrobe. The garden can be far more entertaining than commercial entertainment!

Onions walking right onto my path.

I always get a volunteer sunflower or two.

The calandula don't seem happy haven't grown in the three weeks since I put them in.

herb garden at it's peak,towered over by a couple volunteer sunflowers.

coriander ready to harvest

and the baptisia seed pods ripe, never have any luck getting these to grow .any suggestions?

agastache in full bloom , don't know if it is even considered an herb but this is where it ended up, among the sage and tarragon .

my calandulas finally bloomed and are producing seed.They are flanked by everbearing strawberries,that are still giving me a treat everyday,Kelly (the cat ) is sitting on the only bare spot in the garden,there use to be garlic there,it all died back .It was planted this spring so I don't know if I am suppose to dig it now or wait ?

Gardengus ~ yes, now when it dies down would be the time to dig the garlic. I dig some and leave some for next season but don't know if you can leave them in ground in your climate.

I have only had one Calendula bloom and no seeds ~ wondered why.

What an interesting looking cat you have sitting in that lush garden. Very pretty!

Great garden, and great animals in it! Wonderful job, gus.

I had kind of weird success with calendula -- lots of blooms but many of them turned brown before blossoming. Don't know why. I've cut them back drastically, hoping they'll come up again in the fall.

The same browning happened with my agastache. I'm wondering if it's the moisture, or the bugs (nasty leaf-footed plant-eating b@$^@%*s), or if I have a fungus or something. It affected the marigolds and the asters as well. Didn't seem to affect the zinnias, roses, feverfew, chamomile, etc.

Thanks, I will have seeds from several of the plants including the calendula if either of you are interested. I would be glade to share ,The ones I planted came from a DG member who shared with me.
This is my first year for agastache so I don't know much about it .I am going to try to get seeds if I know what to look for.

Isn't the experimenting fun? Always fun to try new herbs... when the agastache is finished blooming, the seeds will form. I have a hunch it will reseed freely if you don't catch them all. Depending on what seeds my meager Calendula resinosa delivers (or not), I may take you up on that offer... : ) pod

I do have agastache coming up a yard or so from where it had been planted. That's a nice surprise, though this fall I'll have to pull them up. This second generation is doing better than the first.