I grow basil, dill, and lavender, because those are my favorite ones to smell. I tend to forget they're there when i need the herbs for cooking. If you get mint, remember that you'll be pulling mint out of your garden for the rest of your life.
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As close to the kitchen door as posssible makes you more likely to actually use the herbs when cooking. Many herbs like slightly sandy soil, too.
Oregano is beautiful and will get huge in a couple of years. Fresh rosemary is wonderful for cooking. I like anise and lemon verbana, as well. But really, it depends on what you like to cook with. Plant that. And basil. Everyone needs basil. It comes in lots of varieties. Get one of each. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I would put it outside, personally. That's where mine is.
Seriously, though, where you plant is somewhat dependent on what you plant. I mean, some herbs love full sun, and others like a little more shade. If all yours are sun worshippers, finding the spot in your yard that gets the most sun is best - be sure to keep track of what times shadows creep across your lawn (from trees, your own house, your neighbor's house, etc)
As for what to plant, what do you use? That's probably the easiest way to decide.
I have three types of basil, dill, sage, rosemary and thyme because I use all of those for cooking. I also have four types of mint (one wild that the previous owners had let take over their own garden), because my roommate is a mint-aholic.
Personally, I prefer a raised bed garden, because it gets better drainage, and has proven a passive deterrent to the rabbits in my yard (they go for my neighbor's ground level plants, but not the plants in my 10 in raised boxes) I also mix in about a shovel full of peat moss for every ten gallon bucket of top soil, or so, and use Miracle grow once a week.
Here's a pic, if you're interested.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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A note on the mint, make sure you confine it well. In my garden, the mint is segregated from the other herbs by plastic landscape edging that I hammer into the dirt.
So, there's plastic that goes about six to eight inches down, which has stopped the underground runners that mint throws off. Another trick is to cut the bottom out of a bucket, then set the bucket into the dirt with the plastic coming up about two inches or so above ground - then plant the mint in the bucket. That's worked well for friends of mine, too.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Depending on local fauna, I strongly recomend cannabis. It's a great herb and if enough people grow it in their back yards, there will be no other alternative but to utterly decriminalize it.
Posts: 379 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Robin Kaczmarczyk: Jeesh..
Depending on local fauna, I strongly recomend cannabis. It's a great herb and if enough people grow it in their back yards, there will be no other alternative but to utterly decriminalize it.
I'm just flabbergasted to see you say that, Robin! It's so out of character!
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Herbs can be grow very easily. Assess what herbs you use. I would strongly note once again the statements made about mints. They do tend to go everywhere unless you have them under control. I have basil, purple basil, marjarom, thyme, hot marjarom (great for spicy pizza sauce), rosemary, applemint, orangemint, peppermint, spearmint, lemonbalm, and sage in my herb garden. Just pay attention to certain details. I had fennel for a while, loved it but it died off because where I was growing it in a shady area and they like full sun. Also Basil has to be uprooted and moved indoors during the winter here, so you will want to look into the different needs for your climate zone.
Posts: 224 | Registered: Jan 2001
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You know, in the spirit of the "pastor predicts" thread, I almost mentioned something about God telling me that Robin was going to come into this thread in order to plug marijuana. But I refrained. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I have no sand in my soil, and it's doing well. Just top soil, peat moss, and dehydrated manure. There could be all kinds of factors to why your herbs didn't grow. The soil could have been too dry or too wet (drainage), there could have been too little minerals and organic material (very dusty dirt, or pure sand), the soil could have been too acidic or base (near a cement foundation, for instance), it might have gotten too much or too little sun, or the weather conditions might not have been good for the herbs you tried to grow.
Lots of factors - you could even have had burrowing grubs or insects (or animals) that were eating your root systems.
As for indoor plants, you can buy indoor rosemary "trees" that grow in pots rather well. Mint is damn near impossible to kill, so it should grow indoors (and any who are having trouble growing herbs, you won't have trouble growing mint). A friend had a sage plant grow inside very well for several years, as well, though she put it out on her porch in good weather.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I have licorice mint, pineapple mint, chocolate mint, pineapple sage, two varieties of rosemary and 14 varieties of thyme. I started basil and marjoram indoors, but never got them into the ground. They are totally stunted now, but if I get any more space cleared I'll still try to plant them. Or else I'll nick a cutting or two off ElJay's basil when we're up there next week. Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I know a Herb who is always involved with a lot of fertilizer, but something tells me you weren't discussing him.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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We grow chives and parsley in the backyard in very poor conditions (on the cold side of the house with very little sun) and they do very well.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Dana, you'd be surprised how well basil bounces back. Mine looked like crap last week, and then I clipped off a couple leaves for pasta sauce, and now it looks great!
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I thought for sure my cinnamon basil would die, and one of the three plants did before the other two bounced back. The two remaining plants were wilted, bent over, and practically laying with their stems flat on the surface of the soil... then they snapped out of it and are now growing strong (well, two of the three, at least).
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I've got something going on that I'm not quite sure how to solve positively. I've got a kaffir lime plant, the leaves of which I use as an herb when I'm cooking various Thai dishes. In the summers I set it outside. It's flourishing as usual this year, despite a scale infestation, but a colony of really, really tiny ants seems to have established itself in the pot. If I could leave the plant outside year round that wouldn't be a problem, but I can't do that.
How can I get rid of the ants? I don't want to use pesticide (both out of a general concern for the environment and out of a particular concern that they would take the poison home, where it would get soaked up by the plant, likely rendering its leaves at least mildly toxic.
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Boric acid would be my suggestion. I've never used it, but I've heard it reccommended a lot.
quote:It can be used as an antiseptic only for minor burns or cuts and is sometimes used in dressings or salves or is applied in a very dilute solution as an eye wash. It is poisonous if taken internally or inhaled, although it is generally not considered to be much more toxic than table salt (based on its mammal LD50 rating of 2660mg/kg body mass). Boric acid can be used to treat yeast and fungal infections such as candidiasis (vaginal yeast infections) by filling gelcaps with boric acid powder and inserting two into the vaginal canal at bedtime for three to four nights in a row. It is also used as prevention of athlete's foot, by inserting powder in the socks or stockings, and in solution can be used to treat some kinds of otitis externa (ear infection) in both humans and animals. The preservative in urine sample bottles (red cap) in the UK is Boric acid. It is often used as a relatively nontoxic insecticide, for killing cockroaches, termites, fire ants, fleas, and many other insects. It can be used directly in powdered form for fleas and cockroaches, or mixed with sugar or grape jelly for ants. It is also a component of many commercial insecticides. In this use, especially in the case of cockroaches, the boric acid in the form of a powder is applied to areas frequented by the insects. The lightweight particles cling to the legs of the insects and eventually cause fatal chemical burns. Boric acid for this use in residential apartments is sold commercially in urban areas afflicted with cockroaches.
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I have dealt with fire ants (out of dire necessity) by soaking the hill with rum and setting it on fire, but I wouldn't recommend that. It seems a particularly painful way to die.
I do know that ants act drunk when they sip Fresca.
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Edited to add: and what ElJay said (as always), or possibly try your state university's cooperative extension agent. For ideas, that is, not on the ants per se.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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It's great to kill ants, yes, but if it's used in soil, it also makes that soil infertile, and will kill your lime plant.
quote:Boric acid is intended for indoor use, not outdoor use. Boric acid can kill your plants as well as it can kill roaches. The boron in boric acid is a nutrient needed in very small quantities by plants. Even a little too much boron is toxic to plants.
If your plant is in a pot, drown it repeatedly with water while it's outside. If you keep the soil super-saturated, the ants will have no way of living there and will relocate.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: I have dealt with fire ants (out of dire necessity) by soaking the hill with rum and setting it on fire, but I wouldn't recommend that.
That sounds like a pretty...extreme solution. How did you happen to come to that point ::he asked saucily::?
quote:I do know that ants act drunk when they sip Fresca.
Its the esthers of wood rosin, I tell 'ya.
quote:....or possibly try your state university's cooperative extension agent.
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Y'know, as expensive as gas is, it would still be cheaper and far more effective to use it to do what you suggest, as it is far more volatile than booze.
Now, mix the gas with a little styrofoam and you can have a little homemade napalm to screw with the little buggers.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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Noemon, take the whole pot and soak it in a tub of water for about 15 minutes to a half hour. Set it out and let it drain for at least 24 hours. Do this repeatedly every couple of days or so for a week or two or until you don't see anymore ants. I'm just pulling this out of my head since I haven't had that problem and haven't read up on fixing it, but it seems like that would work. I'd certainly move if my home kept getting flooded every couple of days.
(This probably won't hurt the plant if you are sure to give it really good drainage. If the soil appears soggy or the plant gives any sign of wilt, try to improve the drainage and stop the water treatments for a few days.)
Alternatively, you could re-pot the plant. If it's been in the same pot for a long time, it might be a good idea anyway. Check to make sure it's not getting root-bound, and if it's the type of plant that can be divided you might get two for one out of it.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Even with plenty of drainage, the excessive water would collapse and flood the ant tunnels often enough for it to be an unfavorable place to live.
Ants don't make their colonies under downspouts, for instance. If you make it inconvenient enough for them, they will find a less difficult home.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I didn't put any sand in the soil, maybe that is why?
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That sounds like a pretty...extreme solution. How did you happen to come to that point ::he asked saucily::?
