Detailed Information On How To Start Your Very Own Herb Garden At Home

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As far as the original question...basil and bleeding hearts. Bleeding heart likes it shady. Basil likes it sunny. I'd move one of those plants.

FataMorgana

Here is a link that might be useful: Starting an Herb Garden

Thanks for the response.. I should have given more info I suppose. I have a couple of raised garden beds with lots of veggies and herbs, have been gardening for several yrs now. Also have herbs in pots on my deck. I just ran out of room and had 1 extra basil which I remembered grew very well in the flower bed in front of my house a few yrs ago before putting the bleeding hearts in... The bed is against the house and shady in the morning up until around 1pm. Suprisingly, the basil I grew there was really large and healthy (very good soil in there.) As for the bleeding hearts, I planted 3 about 2 yrs ago, and didn't realize how large they will grow, they too do really well.. too well infact, they take over so much of the flower bed that after the initial blooming I have to cut them almost all the way down to make room for other things that come up in the late spring/summer such as cannas, gladiolas, as well as some annuals to mix it up.. I really just wanted to know if somehow from the bleeding hearts being poisonous and the basil being so close, could it somehow affect the basil as in making it dangerous to eat. Maybe a little crazy, but who knows? :) Here is a pic of the bleeding heart the first week of April. It was twice this size by the beginning of May, and I cut it down(most of the way) after it bloomed.. The basil I planted since then is about where the daffodils are in the pic. Thanks. Regina

To be honest, I can't say with any certainty one way or another. But in the wild, toxic plants grow right along side of other plants all the time - even plants we harvest. Wild blackberries and raspberries are a perfect example. But all plants are different so my answer is I don't know.

Even if it is safe (which I can't say), you are always going to question every bite of that basil. Why not just move the basil so you can enjoy it without worries?

FataMorgana

Just on the topic of the bleeding heart. You say you cut it down after it bloomed. Did you wait for the foliage to die down naturally? Otherwise you will be weakening the plant for next year. It needs to go dormant in its own time. One solution would be to enlarge the flower bed. I think it would look good broader and more generous. Let the plants dictate the size of the bed rather than vice versa. On the toxicity question, like fatamorgana, I don't know for certain, but I seriously doubt there's any problem.

Thanks for the response, I have decided before the basil gets any bigger to move it down to the bottom of this flower bed. As for the bleeding hearts, no, i know I should let the foliage die down, but by then they have everything else all pushed over and displaced.. I really just need to move 2 of the 3 of them. I also have tons of baby plants sprouting up around them. Do these transplant well like this? I have a friend who would love some and wondering how big I need to let them get before digging up and giving to her? Thanks again! Regina