I grow a keg container of one tomato plant, one green bell pepper plant, rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil and chives. I have another long planter that is devoted entirely to lavender of different types. I like chamomile but don't always grow it.

I'm lost with tarragon--the French kind, not the Russian one-- plus basil, parsley, rosemary, lemon thyme, and cilantro. I also like to have a nice clump of bronze fennel somewhere for the seeds and as a host plant for swallowtail caterpillars.

Thyme - I have several varieties, mostly creeping, I use it to keep down the weeds in my rose bed! I also love cooking with it. I also do a pot of dill and have some epazote started for Mexican cooking. I get so much basil and sage from the CSA I work at during the summer there's no point in planting them. Oh and the monster tarragon plant overtaking one of my gardens - mustn't forget that!

-Marie

My perennial garden is small but packed with my favorites: 3 varieties of basil, lavender, rosemary, chives, garlic chives, parsley, anise hyssop, oregano, tarragon and 2 varieties of thyme. In other beds I also have bee balm and agastache.
Have tried dill and cilantro but it always bolts and I never get any usable herb from either, so I usually just buy what I need at the farmers market.

I have ordered online from Papa Genos and been very happy with the variety and quality of the plants I have gotten from them.
Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: Papa Geno's Herb Farm

May I ask what variety of lavender do you grow in your garden? Are they hardy enough to winter over? All the seed pack I've seen has zone 5-6 on them. Is there a zone 4 lavender out there?

Joyce, what would you do with lungwort(Pulmonaria)?

Ying, the lavender that I have growing in my garden was some that I winter sowed during the winter of 2004/2005. I planted the seedlings right out in the open (on the edge of my rose garden) during the fall of 2005 and they survived winter 2005/2006 just fine. I'm not sure what zone they are supposed to be. The seed packet was labeled: Lavandula angustifolia - Perennial.

Rick, Knowing me, it's hard to say whether I would do anything with lungwort or not :-) I've raised a lot of herbs that I haven't actually done anything with.... yet. My favorite herb book (that I made my list of 'desirables' from) doesn't appear to be in it's proper place but I did find information about it at the link below - a tea that is soothing to cough. That's probably what prompted me to add it to my list, as I have problems every year with prolonged (weeks) of coughing, and am susceptible to bronchitus, pleursy, pnemonia. Have had them all.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lungwort uses

That's a good source of info, Joyce. Lungwort tea, could be worth a try too.

In case you (or anyone) is intersted, I have plenty of Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum) seed. I grow it as a volunteer ornamental anual, but it also has medicinal qualities. (Intersted-it's a new word, you know.)

I have either munstead or hidcote lavender in my garden & it's survived 3 y and -20 temps.

Joyce:

I sowed some True Lavender seeds both indoors and in vented containers outside this year. It is labled as "lavandula officinalis". There is no zone information on the seed packet, except it says "Perennial". I'd like to know if your Lavender has survived this winter and whether it bloomed this year.

Ying

Hi Ying. My lavender survived last winter (2005/2006), so it has been happily growing in my garden for a year and a half. This winter (2006/2007) is still to be determined of course. The lavender was just great last summer (after it's first outdoor winter). The clump was large and it bloomed tremendously.

Hidcote Blue is a pretty lavender but did not survive the winter for me. Mumstead has come back each year since 1999.

I grow most of the herbs listed using them for ground cover, host plants, cooking, munching, and for the pleasure of their aromas. One not listed that I grow is burnett which is used in salads for its cucumbery taste.

I love golden oregano for the color and aroma though it needs to be corraled or will spread everywhere. Ditto for ginger mint, chocolate mint, etc. mint.

Thyme is a favorite herb used as ground cover and for culinary purposes. Have several varieties and always open to adding another. I lost my coconut and lavender thymes last year.

New to me this year will be agastache and cilantro. Will wintersow seeds that were sent as trades/swaps.

Ying, are you still on GW? I haven't seen you post for a while, but wanted to let you know that my lavender came through it's second winter outdoors just fine. I went back and checked to see which one I planted and it was Lavandula angustifolia. It's greening up very nicely just this last week or two and now forms a very nice big clump.

I want to roll around in your herb garden just to enjoy the smell.

I've never had much luck with lavender, though it might be time to try again.

I usually plant a few varieties of basil, parsley and cilantro. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

I stopped by Bachman's this past week and was quite taken by a combination of a blue fescue and a reddish digitalis plant they had on display together. The spikey pale blue grass was the perfect compliment to the tall reddish purple of the digitalis. I almsot bought some, but it just wasn't in the budget.

Then when I went over to the basils, there were some a couple varieties that were red and reddish green that reminded me of the digitalis, so I got one of each. And right next to them was an herb called a curry plant that was the same spikey blueish green as the blue fescue so I got one to plant amidst the basil. They looks so pretty in the garden together. Plus they all smell so darn good.

HI! I am a brand new gardener and have NO idea what I am doing. I went to Walmart and bought a huge pot along with some herbs and vegtable plants. I bought potting soil and some miracle grow soil. I mixed it up and put it in my new huge pot. I bought 2 strawberry plants, one tomato plant, one basil, one cilanto and one mint plant. Can I put all of these in my pot? Should I keep my plants inside until the end of May? Help! My $75 might just be doomed to fail!

Thanks for any tips!

-Danielle

P.S. i am growing all of these on my deck. I don't have a yard sadly.

I'm not sure how big your pot is, but that sounds like a lot for one pot.
If it were me this is what I would do (this is just personal opinion, to each their own ;)
In your big pot plant the basil, cilantro and tomato.
Plant the strawberries in a pot of their own. These will likely come back year after year and should spread well if watered regularily.
Also, give the mint plant a pot of it's own.

Of course, it's gardening, so there are no "rules". If your pot is really big there is no reason why you couldn't plant them all in the same plant. However, I think they would start to crowd one another out.

Thanks for you opinion! I have recently heard that mint can overgrow areas unless bordered out or something.

Mint can go crazy and take over everywhere in the garden and across the state..lol Only partly kidding, the stuff spreads! I've lived here for 9 years and am still trying to keep it under control. Dig it up, mow it over, mint is persistent and shows up in places nowhere near where it started. Just my 2 cents on that.

oops-I thought this was a forum for growing "marijuana". My bad.

I planted my lemon balm in the herb bed today. Overwintering herbs is difficult for me, even under lights. They grow well for part of the winter then just start dieing. The lemon balm looked pathetic. I divided it into two parts and planted them in different locations and hope one survives.