Herb Garden Disaster :(

That's interesting. We have lemon balm in a south facing position with no shade and it goes mad.
Ours possibly thrives as we water the border, although not excessively

 

Thanks, going to have to think this out. The main herbs I used were fennel and mint, I never knew what the others were for in cooking - I don't make sausages so the oregano did not get used. All the herbs used to flower beautifully and attracted bees, that's another good reason to have them as ornamental. Chives were beautiful but a mistake - I don't like the scent.

So less herbs, and more spaced; dig the liner out, replace/enliven earth with garden centre (?) growing soil. Plugs. Must make sure when the plugs arrive I am in the position to plant them out. Biological slug control in the early stages, the slugs hoover up seedlings - I suspect ants carry off any seeds, from past experience. Ants rule this part of the world in the summer.

Shady corners will be twice as susceptible to pests (and weeds), why not erect a shady partition between the south and north halves of the raised bed?

 

I've found that oregano is very good for protecting basil. A young basil plug will get chomped by slugs down to the ground in the space of one night. But I found by accident that surrounding the basil with oregano plugs stops the slugs from eating it.

 

Hmmm, I'm wondering where you are, for ants to rule in the summer.
I've lived and gardened in the Welsh Marches (rich clay soil), the Chilterns (poor chalk/flint soil), Brussels (average slightly sandy soil) and Rhode, south of Brussels (very poor, nearly pure sand "soil"). I've never had problems of ants stealing seeds!! Birds and rodents, yes, but not ants!!

I would remove the liner, and check the soil. If it's pure roots, then you will need to remove the roots and replace the lost root-mass with 50/50 compost and sand/fine gravel. Most herbs like poor soil, with good drainage.

Rather than buy plugs, have you considered using plants from supermarkets? Rosemary, mint, marjoram, oregano, tarragon - often available as growing herbs. You simply split plant in half - half repotted with a little more compost to refill pot, other half in the herb bed! Simples!! Because the plants are more advanced than tasty seedlings, the slugs will normally slime on by. (If necessary, keep in pots for a week or two to acclimatise, and for the stems to toughen up, before planting out)

One reason to grow mint in a pot, rather than "loose" in the bed, is so at you can give it richer soil. Shade is less important than allowing it to have more "normal" soil than the other herbs.

How to use the other herbs, apart from mint and fennel? Marjoram - young leaves in salad, chopped in pasta sauces (mainstay of Herbs Provençal), a handful in the cavity of a chicken, prior to roasting.... Rosemary with lamb, cut slit in meat, skewer in stem, then roast... Sage with any casserole, same as marjoram. Tarragon - any casserole chicken.... I'm getting hungry!!

 

Possibly also explains why my oregano has survived, but the basil or rosemary had attained a woody nature, almost like a small shrub. I am amazed they suddenly vanished. We had a hard, late winter last year - followed by a scorching summer - I wonder if the weather took a hand?

 

I'm in the West Country, North Dorset, we are plagued with ants, I have to fight to keep them out of the bungalow, they use any crack in the cement to start a colony. I liberally sprinkled and part-buried wild flower seeds in the garden for several years, none came up. I did the same in flower boxes, and they all came up. Something in the garden is hoovering up seeds. There are rats because we are rural, I have fine mesh panels for front and back doors, they also keep mosquitoes at bay - 'screen doors' have not been invented in the UK yet, despite a run of searing summers; nor screens for windows. Garden centres are beginning to sell mosquito netting.

Will check the supermarket for herbs, but are they bee-friendly? A lot of commercial growers dose plants with systemic pesticide which stays in the plant for a very long time, bit like treating drinking water with dilute cyanide I imagine, if you were a bee.

Not an adventurous eater, I used the mint for peas and lamb casserole, fennel for fish, but it was good to add fresh herbs from the garden.

That raised bed is infested with ants though.

 

If you are particularly worried about pesticides see if you can find organic ones.
I have a quite few ant nests in the garden, especially in the raised beds, they do little or no damage apart from disturbing soil.
Thyme is a good herb for the kitchen and likes similar conditions to rosemary.

 

Basil really only grows well under glass for me in all but the hottest of summers and even then in a pot so it can be brought in whenever the temperature drops.

 

I think basil and rosemary go woody if you allow them to flower.

I can't grow basil in my present garden cos it's too wet.

 

Rosemary is a shrub, mine is currently flowering like mad. The main problem with rosemary is that it goes leggy and like lavender does not respond well to pruning; it is unlikely to shoot from old wood. I grow a prostrate form that layers well.
Basil I grow in the greenhouse where it gets fed and watered with the tomatoes and peppers.

 

Thank to all. Need to sort that raised bed. It's previous existence as a pond ceased when the owners discovered it full of mosquito larvae. Also the 'bricks' are some form of reconstituted material, they are now crumbling. The fact that the liner is cemented into them won't help matters, I can see the whole thing crumbling to pieces if I attempt to remove the liner as it is. I wonder if that is part of the answer, to dismantle the entire raised bed, then rebuild it with solid brick and mortar? That way I can remove the plastic liner completely. This is turning into quite a project.

 

Like they do.....If the idea is to grow herbs there in future, it's the ideal chance to create proper drainage and fill with suitable soil for sun-lovers

 

Thanks. This may be a long project - but I will get there. There are things coming up later this year, which may get in the way, but that will give me time to properly plan ahead - I can go another year without fresh mint, or maybe get a temporary herb box set up somewhere I may need some advice on how to construct the raised bed properly, are there books you can get for such projects, for example?