A little container advice needed please....

Hi

I have 12 pots with the following herbs/plants -

1. blackcurrent sage
2. thyme (common one!) and marigolds
3. bronze fennel and
4. mint (common)
5. mint (common)
6. mint (pineapple)
7. rosemary
8. mint (chocolate)
9. marigolds
10. sage and marigolds
11. thyme (not sure what type) and marigolds
12. strawberry pot

Ive recently bought a house with a blank canvass of a garden (well it will be by the time ive cleared the weeds etc!) and im wondering, do i keep all the herbs in containers on the patio OR do i build a raised bed for the herbs to go into (maybe except the mint and strawberry plants)? I want to get more herbs to add to the collection but i'm just getting more and more pots!! I quite like a lot of pots but don't want it to look silly having hundreds of them. Could i plant some of the herbs in with others? If so, which ones? I think i'd almost rather put some herbs together to compliment one another but not sure how to go about arranging them etc?

 

whatever you decide-and the raised be sounds a good idea, keep the mint in a pot or that's all you'll have next year. Lots of pots look very pretty too.

 

I've put mint in my problem bed where nothing seems to stay alive. :D

 

:hehe:

Claire, i thought lots of pots looked pretty too, until my boyfriend said it looked like a jumbled mess and that i should put the pots in some kind of order! I told him that that was what is supposed to look like - its much prettier having random pots than all uniform and ordered 'correctly' (in my opinion). I have mostly terracotta pots of different shapes and sizes. I will maybe stick with wht i have. If we build a raise bed at our house then i can transfer most herbs and use the pots for pretty patio flowers instead!!

 

I'm with the boyfriend. I sincerely hope the herbs are in alphabetical order? :hehe:

I like the idea of a raised bed herb garden. The mint will take over off course, so needs to be in a pot, but you could "plunge" that into the bed. I think it will look fabby, and I also think the plants will grow much better, and with more ease and less effort. Watering, for example. Need to do that daily for pots, which is a tie and time consuming. They'll be fine in a raised bed being watered once or twice a week during the dry season (give them a good soak, not a sprinkling, but less often)

 

Go for the raised bed for the herbs - they'll do so much better in it, but keep the mint in pots and revitalise it at the end of the year or in Spring, by repotting a few roots. It'll take off again no problem.

Mix a few annuals or perennials amongst the herbs too, as a herb bed can look a bit dull and go woody if just herbs, I think.

Give the rosemary plenty of space as well - maybe make it the focal point, as it can look stunning.

 

Some English Marigolds - Calendula - to attract hoverflies. Probably some other Companion Planting you could consider?

 

A small bay tree can add height and presence for the whole year.

 

Busybee. Much better in the ground - much less watering. But be aware that some are big plants ( Tangerine sage will grow to 3 ft by 3 ft or more, and Rosemary is also big) whilst some like thyme are very small.

Two other small herb suggestions are Nepeta calamintha, and Oreganum laevigatum. Both have a beautiful smell when you crush the leaves, and very pretty flowers too.

 

Thank you everyone for all the advice - PeterS, i will def look into getting those herbs as ive been looking to increase my numbers and as i want a raised bed i will need more to fill it!


Kristen - of course they're in alphabetical order! :hehe::hehe:

 

:thumb:

 

Hi Busy, can't offer any advice but will give you my opinion,lol. I'm with you on the pots - lots! I love having loads of them even if most of them are the horrible plastic ones! My o/h is like your boyfriend - he thinks that it should all be in order and the plants spaced out evenly. He says I overplant things and I do, in his opinion, when he isn't watching But just look at the lovely containers on here, they all have plenty of flowers in.

I only have thyme, which I have had for a few years now in a little wheelbarrow. It comes back every year, goodness knows how. Hubby has not got into planting a bit and has strawberries & mint plants, planted seperately of course and some beans & stuff some of which was given by someone on here so that's good. And do you know what some of his pots are? Recycling boxes from the council! We have the bins now so he started the first one off with some spuds. I want him to grow carrots cos I've never tasted them as nice as from a friends allotment, don't know what kind they were though.

I think it sounds like you have room for a few different kinds of things in your garden and agree that a raised bed would be lovely, but keep the pots, Can you post any pics?

cheers

 

Hello
I too have been persevering with a herb garden. I have so far got Mint (which has taken over the whole pot) Thyme, Pepper, Parsley, Coriander. I have a very long wooden raised pot that has them all in a row. It is looking quite overgrown with the Mint though so I need to sort it out as soon as the weather warms up a little. I cant offer much advice yet except don't make the same mistake as I have and put too much in especially ones that grow at a rate of knots ! lol

 

Yeah, its a thug. Don't plant it out, don't share its container with anything else, and don't let its roots escape into the soil through the drainage holes.