My biggest gripe about FAQs is the nobody seems to use them! Which explains why we get so many of the same questions over and over. Perhaps a reasonable place to start would be to sift through past threads pertaining to 'what's wrong with my basil/rosemary/whatever?', or 'overwintering herbs', or 'what's eating my...?'.

As for definitions of a herb, there are about the same number of answers as there are herbs! My own definition is very broad - you can simplify it by saying that 'a herb is any weed which has a use'! Or the expanded version is 'any plant which has a use for mankind'. Go on to explain the various uses (culinary, medicinal, perfumery, cosmetic, dyes, poisons (as in catching food), building/construction (as in bamboo), insecticide etc. Give examples.

The broader answer to that question also provides a good indication of what is 'on-topic' for this forum. I know there is a 'herbalism' forum which provides answers specifically on the medicinal uses of herbs, but I think it's inevitable that the two forums will overlap - in much the same way as the culinary uses of herbs can overlap with, say, the Cooking forum. In short, it's almost impossible to draw a distinct line when discussing herbs!

I think you'll need to use your own discretion - it's clear that you'll not get much help or guidance from GW admin, and since you're taking on such a massive task without recompense, I think you have some licence for decision-making about what goes in and what stays out.

I wish you the best of luck with this project. I hope people really appreciate the enormous amount of work you have taken on!

Thank you for your reply, Daisy.

I agree. There seems to be a real reluctance to read FAQ's let alone do a simple search (here or at google) for the most basic of questions. Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset or angry at people for posting here. That's what the forum is for. But you do have to wonder sometimes what is going wrong - why don't people want to help themselves?

Anyways, I'm hoping having some FAQ's will help to offload the continual answers to some mundane and oft asked topics and actually encourage "meatier" discussions. It's my hope that links to FAQ's can be shared when those mundane questions are asked and that the individual posters can then add whatever personal suggestions they have, tips, tricks, etc. as well since they won't be spending time on answering that same old question again. Maybe I'm too optimistic but it's worth a shot.

I don't expect to have much time for this until after the new year and if no one else is working on FAQ's here with me, they'll come out fairly slowly. But hopefully it will improve this forum. :)

FataMorgana

FataMorgana,
I also wish you much luck with this undertaking. You and Daisy have answered so many of questions for me over the years! I don't know enough to help with your endeavor, but I certainly admire you for it and support you.
I have a couple of thoughts about the FAQ's and search feature in general. It may seem silly, but I think the page set-up doesn't quite bring those links to the eye of the reader(or it may just be the way my computer is set up). It's not something you'd have control over, but if those two things were bolder and closer to the threads, like right under or next to the 'messages' heading, they might get more action. I know the word 'search' is all over the page, and that FAQ's is highlighted, but a lot of people still don't notice them(or say they don't)until someone mentions it in a thread(and many times they get offended when it's mentioned, but I don't understand why). Seems people see the 'Herbs' or any forum heading and go straight for the messages without reading anything in between.
Regarding the topics, one topic that seems to come up time and time again is 'growing herbs indoors'. People see these little herb pots in the movies, on TV, and in advertisements, and think they can have thriving herb gardens on their kitchen window sill, and are so disappointed when they find out it can't be done(except under certain conditions). It reminds me of the Topsy-Turvy threads in the Tomato forum...so much false information out there so someone can make a buck. It can put a lot of newbies off gardening of any kind.
So whether people end up spending more time reading the FAQ's or not, I don't doubt they'll be extremely informative!

Common pests (aphids, powdery mildew, etc) and what they look like. Would help with all the "what's wrong with my....." and "what's the little rice-like things on my...." questions.

Very general list of herbs that like it dry, wet, or in the middle (lavender and rosemary on one side, mint on the other)and how to check if something needs watering (Daisy's finger test, etc). A note on not putting herbs from different groups in the same pot!!!!

Perhaps, just perhaps, a very basic list of ten herbs, the most common, and a short like/dislike overview.

A very brief explanation of the difference between annual and perennial herbs. (In Texas,perennial, in Vermont, no.)

Just off the top of my head, these are questions seen over and over again. A few lines at the top of the page in bold about using the FAQ FIRST would hopefully help - too much to hope for that they use the search function - but people so rarely read signs anyway........

Batya

Fata - feel free to email me if you need help.

I wish they would make an herbal medicinal forum or that also can be included in a FAQ. I did a search on topics here and I get a list of nothing to do with what I asked, or the answer is way to the back. Reading over hundreds of posts to get the ones you need is aggravating, so that is why so many repeat questions.

Maybe there is a way to label them by tagwords or something like that, that will bring them up. They may already do this, but to me it's hard to search and I get not much of what I want. I think there is a companion plant forum already, so herbs should be a big part of it. Maybe they should combine the two, companion planting and herbs, so more activity.

Good luck on your job! It looks like 10 years or more of research you are going to have to compile. I wish you luck.

SD,
There is a forum dealing with herb use, the Herbalism forum. It is listed at the top of this forum...see 'related forums' under the line about the FAQs. I really think they should make all that info more noticeable.
Anyway, here you go...

Here is a link that might be useful: Herbalism forum

Thank you very much for the offer, Daisy! I appreciate it!

ScarletDaisies, if you understand the advance search options for google, it can do a much better job of searching the forums than the search tool here. I did an example and attached the results. I wanted threads on growing spearmint from the Herbs forum but since I wanted it on growing rather than removing it (all those posts with "invasive" some place in it), I discounted those threads. After looking through the results, I could try leaving off the "invasive" qualifier. Or maybe add "growing" to the search string to get different results if my first search didn't have what I wanted. But you get the idea....

We do also cover medicinal herbs here but focus more on growing with occasional usage info. The Herbalism forum is rather the opposite, focusing on usage with occasionally some growing info. Obviously there is overlap. But I find the Herbalism forum rather dysfunctional and hostile as a whole. I would find a more strongly moderated forum outside gardenweb to join if medicinal herb usage is what you are specifically looking for.

FataMorgana

Here is a link that might be useful: Herbs - Spearmint results via google

Thank you! I thought there would be a different forum for it! I'll go there now! I'll try the advanced searches for now on. I know every question I've asked has already been answered, but I never get the right results!

For FAQ's, I would like to see...

The 5-10 most popular herbs for cooking.
The 5-10 most popular herbs for potpourri.
The 5-10 most popular herbs for teas/tisanes.

The 5-10 easiest herbs to grow in sunshine.
The 5-10 easiest herbs to grow in shade.

And my favorite, different ideas for herb gardens. Could we have some kind of recommendations for books or websites for various herbs gardens? Formal, informal, potted, raised, wagonwheel, etc. There are so many beautiful herb garden styles...and I think some recommendations (and pictures!) would really be wonderful.

Of course, this is more work, but it would be a great addition to the forum. If anyone else thinks it sounds good, I'd be happy to help :)

I meant to add that it would be so helpful, if we had some kind of basic reference to the most popular herbs.

One possibility....25 most popular herbs, with a picture, zone information, shade/sun, wet/dry, size when mature, bird/bee friendly, best way to start plant, etc.

No long discussion just the basics. Kind of a quick reference format. This may be above and beyond, but it might stop the repeatedly asked questions...at least some of them :)

I do think some room should be left for a person to just chat about their current herb projects, even if there is some repetition of information, though. It's rather companionable.

Dave's Garden has the separate plant listings, to which people can add their observations, and the idea of creating advanced threads about individual herbs that we can all build upon is nice, but I don't know if this format really lends itself to that. Fata, you will have to be really clever to structure things to pull that off, IMO.

fatamorgana, would you like help with the FAQ? I'd be happy to help.

Lavender_lass - Thank you for the suggestions! I think short top herb lists is nice idea but to be useful I think the lists would have to be zone or climate specific. You may be able to combine a few zones together for a list but still you would need multiple lists for each suggested topic. That would greatly increase the amount of work and expertise to create these resources. Perhaps I'm thinking about this wrong and would welcome your comments back...

But I think a list of 25 or so popular herbs and very basic info may be a far more doable project since that will cover herbs from a variety of zones and could each be designed for a specific theme - shade-loving, sun-loving, bees, culinary, dyeing, fragrance, tea, medicinal, etc. That way there should be at least a couple from each list that would apply to most reader's conditions and we could avoid the zone/climate-based lists.

eibren - Thank you for your feedback! Discussing your current projects? Goodness yes and please do! The FAQ's aren't meant to stop discussions. I sincerely hope just the opposite - I hope that they would inspire better conversation rather than the repetitive (and often laborious to answer) basic questions so often seen here. I think the repetitive content gets very tiring for everyone and doesn't really encourage people to stay and read after a while.

Individual herb threads - I'm not sure the threads about certain herbs really would work that well. Given gardenweb's structure, I suspect it would be better to build a faq here for an individual herb or perhaps add to GardenWeb's plant database HortiPlex. I've never used it, but it seems as though you can add info and pictures to the entries. This might also be useful for lavender_lass's suggestions.

leira - You are most welcome to help! This isn't my forum, it's everyone's. Is there something that you would like to work on? I was going to work on some of the general stuff, like mentioned here first and proceed to some of the often asked things (like growing herbs indoors, multiple herbs to one pot, etc.).

FataMorgana

imo you could write FAQ's the rest of your life and the forums will still see the same questions. it's the nature of the innerwebs...

folks who are either incapable of or refuse to use google or a site's search function for their simple answers are equally unlikely to look at the FAQ's.

It sounds like Herbs is going to end up with some great FAQ!

I'm working on the FAQ (pretty well just the outline) at Bulbs, and scanned through several pages to see what all had been asked about. Then I did a search there to see how many thread results there were for daffodils, tulips, crocus, etc, to see what should be included. I developed an outline at Google Documents and then included the link in a thread there asking for input. HERE is a link to the outline, in case you might be interested in setting up an outline too. As the questions get addressed, I can then input them into the Doc and it might be less confusing than updating wording or answers within a thread. Just food for thought.

Anyway, might you want to cover 'drying' various herbs? A search on 'drying' here brings up 610 threads

Might you also want to cover garden zones, since it is necessary to know one's zone, particularly if they are wanting perennial herbs for their gardens? Garden or Hardiness zones is the first FAQ at bulbs.

Good luck to you all...again, it sound like they are going to be very informative.

Sue...an occasional lurker here.

Chemocurl, thank you for your thoughts! Preservation of herbs (drying, freezing, etc.) is a good suggestion. It does come up often enough.

Zones do make a huge difference as to what herbs you can grow and if we come up with suggestion lists of plants at some point, we'll probably have to have some sort of break down for zones. Even if we group zones something like Far North (1&2), 3&4, 5&6, 7&8, 9 & above, and other regions people wish to create lists for (UK, Australia, etc.). That way we have a manageable number of lists but still try to make it useful to readers.

FataMorgana