This weekend I finally got around to moving all those herbs I planted into containers this spring over to the greenhouse. Let me tell you Bob, I’m glad that little project is done. I don’t know what I was thinking when I dug up the old herb garden and moved everything in pots. Because the pots were tucked back behind the raspberry plants on the side of the house they barely got watered.
Now that they’ve been planted alongside the greenhouse, I’m sure they’ll be thriving again in not time at all.
Did I mention Lucy helped too? Yep. She dug all the holes for me.
And a few extra ones too. 😉
I’ve decided to go ahead and plant both sides of the greenhouse beds with perennial herbs.
I’m thinking about trying fennel and lavender next year but I need a few more ideas.
On the right side I have purple sage, thyme and chives.
And on the left I have oregano, rosemary and more chives.
Do you have any suggestions? I am in zone 8.
~ Mavis
Lauren says
Love the idea of planting herbs along the sides of the greenhouse! I may try this. I started putting my herb garden in my front flower bed this year, but well, the neighbors already think I’m a complete weirdo, and I think I should opt for flowers to preserve the suburbanite-ness. (A couple of people asked if I was going to “weed” my herb garden. That’s not a weed! It’s oregano!)
A couple thing you might want to add — summer savory (I use this in EVERYTHING), and borage. The borage is gorgeous, looks all fancy in salads, and attracts pollinators LIKE MAD. Keep me posted on how the herb garden goes!
🙂
Diana Cox says
Hi Mavis!
Have you tried sage or is it too wet up there for it? Don’t plant fennel with the rest of your herbs/plants – most things do not like to grow by or near it + it’s horribly invasive! Dill & Cilantro aren’t perennial but if you let them go to seed, they’ll keep coming back every year… I haven’t had to plant cilantro for EVER! Trailing rosemary is fun – tastes the same and doesn’t get all ugly and woody like the upright kind does…
suzanne says
I love fennel seed in a red tomato sauce and the lavender really brings the pollinators to my yard . Tarragon, parsley, sorrel, summer savory or chervil. How about some annual herbs. Dill and cilantro come to mind. I also think you need a fig tree. Mine is off the chart this year. I’m in Kingston WA.
suzanne says
Also horseradish and thyme if your not already growing it.
Thelma says
Garlic Chives, a perennial herb that tastes great and has pretty white blossoms, it also stays quite compact. Be careful with horse radish, it will spread!
Cecily says
I’m in Tacoma and marjoram is a staple in my herb garden. A bay laurel is a must. I’ve had mine for three years and I will never go back to dried bay leaves again.
Joy Burnsworth says
I like garlic chives and opal basil. I make herbal vinegar with both. Opal basil can be dried or frozen to use in cooking. I make
my own salad dressing. Garlic chives keep deer out of your garden.
Holly Tartaglia says
Hey! I used lavender sprigs in my canned whole blueberries this year and it tastes awesome! I made a simple syrup with sugar and water and added a vanilla bean…I packed my jars with fresh blueberries and put a sprig of lavender on top. I poured the simple syrup over the berries and processed for 10 minutes! The syrup is thin, but FANTASTIC on pancakes and biscuits…the blueberries are great on everything or by themselves!
Pat says
I love tarragon it goes great with chicken in particular, you might like to put a bay tree in. I you have had oregano for more than a year you probably know how it can grow. Tarragon can grow this way. Knowing the weather in Kitsap County first hand Parsley and maybe even Dill (both relatives of carrots but I’m sure you knew that) may grow year round there. You could do Marjoram as someone suggested already but I would make sure it is well away from the oregano because they look so similar that it is easy to mix them up and get lost in the mix. Or you could do mint I have started picking fresh mint when my stomach isn’t feeling to good. I am pretty sure you have talked about how invasive it is, but in my experience it is no better or worse than tarragon or oregano. If you don’t want to do those you can start growing variants of the standard herbs, like lemon thyme. that is the only variant off the top of my head but I know there are several of thyme alone. At least two or three more of sage. Then there are medicinal herbs, like say chamomile or fenugreek both of which are good with headaches if memory serves. Hope this helps later.
Mari says
One of my absolute favourite herbs is Lemon scented Verbena (Aloysia tripylla). It grows as a deciduous woody shrub. The leaves and flowers have a wonderful citrus taste and fragrance. I use it to make a wonderful refreshing tea, dry it for winter use, put it in anything that requires lemon (very finely chopped or minced), use it in my oil burner in a little water as a room freshener, as a cooling spray spritz on its own or with lavender or a pick a bunch and put it in the house.
You won’t want to shove this away behind your greenhouse. Plant it in full sun, where you brush past it and stir up the fragrance. (shove a couple of leaves down your bra and take the invigorating fragrance with you). It is an extremely hardy plant. In winter it looks like it has died, but be patient, in spring it comes away again. Oh and the bees love it so it is a good plant to bring bees nd beneficials to your gardens.
Mindy says
Lemon thyme (I can’t remember if it is a perennial) is great and I love lemon verbena – smells SO good! Lavender, which you mentioned, is one of my all time favorites and grows so well in Washington.
Mari says
Lemon thyme and lemon balm are both great along with Lemon Verbena. My lemon thyme is on its second season and sprouting away great. I plan on taking cuttings and have noticed there are several new seedlings from last summers flowers. I think it is a perennial, biennial anyway. Make sure u save some seed then u will have it for ever.
Sarah says
I really like tarragon, I infused vinegar with it earlier this summer and am enjoying it drizzled on veggies (especially thin sliced tender zucchini). I can never seem to grow enough thyme; I especially like English thyme, and the variegated lemon thyme is very pretty and the bees love the flowers.
Celie says
Try Lovage. You can substitute it in for celery when cooking.
Vicki says
Oooh, French tarragon! It’s my favorite herb, and I use it a lot. It can be hard to find, though. It has to be French tarragon – any other tarragon doesn’t have the same sweet flavor. Horseradish is something I’d like to try, but I hear you have to contain it like mint. Did anyone suggest dill? Not sure that’s perennial, though …
Wynne says
Great suggestions! I love tarragon, and lemon thyme too. Another one to consider is Thai Basil, great for stir-fries and unusual pesto. I also have stevia, shiso, lemongrass, and some others this year. The lemongrass is a monster, five times as big as my other herbs from a tiny start (I’m 7B). Flowers in between makes for a pretty herb bed–we had nasturtiums mixed in. And you can never have too much parsley or mint (mojitos).
Veronica says
I got my oregano from a co-worker back in 2009. She planted it in her herb garden and the plants (and large chunks of dirt) she gave me were part of what had taken over half of her lawn! I thought I had killed it when we moved from Utah to Western Washington, but it came back in my pots while I wasn’t looking! Basically, this is just a warning that the oregano you plant in your garden might take over your yard and you might not be able to kill it, ever… Good luck with that.
Trish K says
I hope you use a lot of rosemary. They can grow really large.
Carrie says
Ditto on the oregano warning…it takes over and spreads like wildfire. Also I found that it is basically “crack” for bees. They ignored all of my vegtables and I had almost no squash last year. The oregano was disposed of except for a small box that contains it. A suggestion for a plant is Thai basil…it is used in Asian cooking. It is often given to add to Pho (broth, vegetables and a protein) served at Vietnamese restaurants. It smells wonderful and is very colorful with purple stems. It also stays put as one plant…no spreading!
Karen says
The oregano absolutely takes over – it’s as bad as mint as far as I’m concerned! I’m in zone 8 too, and love growing variegated sage and lemon verbena. Lemon balm was great for the first year but it took over and I can’t get rid of it (I pulled it out about four years ago and it comes back everywhere every year). I also grow tarragon, bay laurel, and parsley. Enjoy your herbs!