I think you should move all your herbs out of the container and give them each a container to themselves. I always think of herbs as being very similar to weeds. At one point in human history, I am sure herbs resembled any other weed-like plant humans came across. I'm just glad I wasn't the guy the other humans made taste test the plants.

Generally, when you are growing herbs, you want a section of your garden set aside just for herbs, or consider growing each of your herbs in their own container. Many herbs have a tendency to spread like crazy or re-seed themselves.

Without the greens you mentioned, I often plant some of my herbs that close together in a pot. It's the pot I keep near the kitchen door. (Other herb seedlings are elsewhere in the garden.) I say harvest the greens and see what you're left with. Unless you want the tarragon, sage and rosemary to overwinter, you may just want to feed them and use them as you need. They may struggle in the end, but not before they give you a lot of flavor for your dinner.

Just my amateur experience.

I would pull the parsley
Eat the lettuces and spinach (asap)
keep the herbs in that container
start some lettuce in another container...use heat resistant varieties (seedlings or seed)

Enjoy!

You've got two problems - too many plants for the space, and plants with different preferences in the same environment.

Many herbs, especially Mediterranean herbs like rosemary & sage (and thyme if your decide to grow that at a later date), are not really compatible with leafy green vegetables. The herbs thrive in 'poor' soil (soil with fairly low fertility), like a lot of sun, and like the soil to dry out between waterings. Rosemary, sage and tarragon are definitely in this category. Parley not so much - I do grown mine in the vegetable garden.

Tender leafy greens like lettuce and spinach OTOH, require plenty of nutrients and plenty of water to help them grow fast and keep them sweet tasting, and if it is hot, they enjoy some shade.

Since the lettuce are cheap and easy to start from seed and grow much faster than the herbs you have there, I would harvest the greens fairly soon, leaving the pot for the herbs, and in future give the greens their own space.

The parsley will transplant easily. I moved mine around quite a bit this last year to get it started in other areas.
I agree with ausbirch on the rest. The greens need a different pot from the herbs. Rosemary likes the desert if that gives you an idea.

wow, i love this place!!

i clearly see that.. now, lol! my problem now though is that it would be much, MUCH easier to move the herbs (rosemary, sage, tarragon) than to keep them where they are, harvest the lettuces, then change the soil conditions. i have waaay more lettuces, and the container/barrel is in an area that's absolutely ideal for the lettuces - plus - i have way more lettuces/spinach than the 3 herb plants.

so with that said, how easy is it to move the herbs? meaning, are they hearty enough to be ok? i'd move the parsley too since it's easy to do, and put it with something else (not sure what yet).

if it's ok to move them, then i'm gonna put them all together in a sunny spot with the thyme,which i do have tons of, i just haven't planted them yet.

thanks again for your help!

angela

thanks everyone.

Don't feel embarassed, Angela. We all make mistakes.

Is your signature line correct - you live in zone 9? If so, you might not realize that lettuce can't grow there all summer. Lettuce is a "cool season" crop, which means that it doesn't like super hot temps. Which I'm guessing you're getting more and more of? Soon, it will bolt, which means that it will flower/make seeds. So the advice about harvesting the lettuce is because we're all guessing it won't last much longer, anyway.

People tend to count on sowing successive crops of lettuce, even if they pick leaves as they grow instead of harvesting the whole head. There are various "heat tolerant" lettuce varities that are less likely to bolt. (Someone mentioned trying those.) I do grow those in the middle of the summer, but regular lettuce is fine for me with a little shade for much of the summer, too. But I'm in a much cooler zone that you.

Lettuce has much shallower roots than the other plants, so it would be easier to move. But I hear you on wanting things a certain way. Why not try to make it like you want it? Be prepared to be nice to the plants you move for a week or two after. Don't overwater them, though! And you might still lose one - but that's part of the learning process. Plants do die occasionally, even when we do our best to care for them.

As far as the aphids, I hear you're supposed to gently hose off the affected plants daily until the aphid problem is resolved. The water makes the aphids fall off. I have an army of ladybugs in my garden, so I've never had a big issue with aphids - I feel lucky! My overall approach is to attract the beneficial insects with flowers, etc, and let them take care of the "bad" insects. It's worked well enough so far.

Enjoy & good luck!

Hi ladybugsmom192,
If you'd rather move the herbs to another pot they should be OK, they're pretty tough plants, although I think it might be hard move then out without disturbing your greens, which as candogal says, are more shallow rooted, and probably won't last too much longer if the weather there is hot.

As far as growing conditions for the herbs, you don't necessarily have to change the potting mix to keep them happy. I would assume you're using a store-bought mix? Most bought potting mixes are pretty fast draining, which is exactly what you want for the herbs. And you can easily adjust the frequency of watering and how often/much you fertilise.

Potting mixes (except the really cheap ones) do generally have fertiliser in them in the beginning (usually enough to last about 12 weeks max, but check the label). That's not going to actively harm your herbs, but once that is used up just fertilise less often than you would your greens. If you are using a soluble or liquid fertiliser that's pretty simple, just don't add it to the water very often and/or use it at low strength. Most herbs thrive on benign neglect : )

The aphids can be tricky to get rid of all together. Because most aphid species reproduce parthenogenetically, it only takes one left alive to start the numbers building up again - the water spray method is as good as anything, followed by a good washing when you get them into the kitchen.

Good luck and don't give up, especially with the herbs! They give such great returns for such little effort. There is nothing like being able to walk out the back door and cut fresh herbs for dinner, and pick fresh salad greens. Pretty soon you'll be digging up the lawn to plant more ; )

hi again!

@ candogal - thanks so much for the info! i live in the san fransico bay area, and if you know anything about this area, we have extremely diverse micro climates. drive just 10 miles and you can experience a 20 degree temp difference! well, i'm in a funky little valley (have you seen the 'happy cow' cheese commercials?) that sits right on the SF bay, so our summers are very mild (who was it that said the coldest winter you'll ever spend is the summer in san francisco?) and we don't get what most people would call a summer til september/october-ish. matter of fact, may area has been socked in (fog) all day today.

i said all that to say.... i'm not too worried about the lettuce in regards to weather, in addition to them being in such an ideal place for them to grow in my yard (in a shaded corner), so they should be fine til early fall.

@ ausbirch - thanks to you too! as for soil, i use an organic compost that i get from a local landscape company that specializes in soil and rock, it's filled with lots of manure and boy does it stink! but clearly the plants like it because they've only been planted for exactly 3 weeks tomorrow (june 2) and everything's doing very well... so far!

the greens should be fine if i move the herbs because there's plenty of room left, thanks to me being a newbie and not knowing how to plant stuff!

as for the aphids, i'm just concerned about the cabbage head developing funky if i don't get them all out. plus, because it's cabbage i'm afraid i am or will damage them by picking at their tender little leaves.

anyway, thanks so much for being here!

be well,

angela

Individual pots are probably best, but if you like the look of a mixed container, then 2-3 herbs in a 5 gallon pot. As others have pointed out, you need to group plants by their light requirements. Here's a list:

Full Sun: Anise, Basil, Calendula, Catnip, Cilantro, Dill, Fennel, Lavender, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme.

Partial Sun: Chamomile, Chervil, Chives, Garlic, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mint, Parsley.

By the way, a grouping like this makes a nice gift. I posted this as a gift idea for Mother's day. The original link is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Herb planter

hey there palo alto mark! thanks so much as this is the very thing i really wanted to know (without realizing it at the time, lol!!)

i'm in the middle of transplanting the sage, rostemary, parsley, tarragon now and all of a sudden, i had this immediate urge to stopped and check in here!!! wow! and that explains my parsley too, lol!

well, off i go to do it right, thanks again!

angela