Call All Herbs Can Be Planted Together?

15 years ago

Can all herbs be planted together or do different herbs have different growing requirements?

I only have a few herbs (so far); rosemary, basil, oregano, apple mint, chives, and lemon balm but I suspect they shouldn't all be planted together. How do I know which herbs to plant together in dry sun and which ones should be planted in moist shade? The plant tags are no help as I bought two apple mint plants at different places and one tag recommended sun and the other tag recommended shade.

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Comments (9)

ksrogers
15 years ago
Simply put, NO. Many require good drainage, while others do not do well in bright sunlight or heat. When you speak of 'herbs', you are including more that few hundred thousand species, so every one has its own needs and growing requirements. Although I suggest that you look through these threads and you will find some info about companion plantings, etc. It may be that even the apple mint are two different types, so treat them accordingly.
fatamorgana2121
15 years ago
There are many good books on herb gardening that can be had in your local bookstore. Visit one and browse the books. Even though the books all have the same information, they have different ways of saying it, formats, pictures, etc. so find one that works best for you. The book will be an valuable aid to you for many years!

FataMorgana
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Correction: Can All Herbs Be Planted Together?
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Comments (3)
I'm in a zone similar to yours, and have planted all of those herbs. Our soil here is fairly heavy clay, though, which holds moisture well, and I believe we get more rain than you do. Additionally, I suspect we have more humidity. In my conditions, all of the plants you list would probably find full sun tolerable as long as they had sufficient moisture. They would need to be carefully watched for the first few weeks until their roots recovered from being moved, and might need protection via artificial shade if they began to wilt. The rosemary, basil, oregano, and chives would actively prefer full sun. Basil is the one of those most susceptible to fungus problems if the soil's moisture is excessive, but it is not equipped to deal with insufficient moisture, either. Oregano and chives are usually happy with average garden conditions, and rosemary would prefer sharp drainage, best achieved in a pot (with added sand, if your soil is clay and you are not using potting soil...I hate the artificial potting soil, but don't get me started). Oregano will tolerate some shade, but spreads better the more sun it gets; the same is true for chives. They should both come back for you next year. I think Basil is an out-an-out annual; in any case, it is not winter hardy in our zone, so it will not return. Most rosemaries are not winter hardy in our zone, the sometime exception being AARP and maybe some new one/s I don't know about yet. Even with full sun, it will not be able to compete with the other herbs, and even chives, unless planted at a distance, might be able to overgrow it. If you want to plant one herb in a pot, that would be the one I would choose for that. If the pot is large enough, you could put a thyme in with it; thymes are so tiny that they are easily overwhelmed in an in-ground planting with larger plants, and they are as fond of sharp drainage as rosemary is. Most mints can tolerate some shade, and some actually prefer quite a bit of it. Most like to have some direct sun at least part of the day, though. In Pennsylvania, lemon balm, which I think is really lemon mint, can easily take over a whole garden bed, meaning one that has been cultivated and is easy to grow in. That won't happen for a few years, but if you want a low-maintenance, long-lasting herb garden where everything has a chance to survive, I wouldn't put lemon balm in there. You could put it in a pot and make certain to cut it back before it goes to seed, or plant it in a well-bounded spot by itself well away from any other cultivation. I don't like it in pots; it spreads mainly by seed setting rather than runners, so it has a vertical habit that looks gangly unless you keep it severely pruned. If you want to make a lot of tea with it, it will perennialize nicely for you, and I would give it its own spot. It probably will spread around your whole yard, but if you use it for tea anyway, that probably will not be too much of a problem. I have not had as much experience yet with apple mint--is yours smooth or fuzzy? You could try that in a pot to start with, or in its own spot, like the lemon mint. I think the smooth kind would look better in a pot than the fuzzy kind. Like any mint, it will have a lot of potential to spread...although I believe I read somewhere that apple mint is a bit more sedate than some mints, preferring to form clumps rather than spread at large (or maybe I am thinking of orange mint). I have planted apple mint several times unsuccessfully, but this time it wintered over for me, the difference seeming to be that I incorporated more organic matter, mostly in the form of leaves, into the planting bed this time. Quite frankly, my preference is to have mint rather than weeds, so I am a bit more permissive with it than most gardeners. If you plan to do gardening with small and delicate plants, mint is not the best thing to have running at will through your property, because it will swamp the more delicate plants. I have a great deal of shade to deal with, and have quite a few shrubs. Mints are fine under shrubs. Good luck with your garden, and I hope you will report back to let us know how it does!
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My brother doesn't grow mint, it just grows... everywhere. Like Justaguy, it's in the cracks of his concrete patio and he has to keep pulling it like weeds. I love it though, he has a mini-hedge of mint between his patio and his raised bed garden. Whenever I go over I give it a kick to brush my foot through the hedge and it smells like mint for a good five minutes. His herb garden is a jumble of herbs. It's 4x4 but he doesn't follow SFG. The basil was huge, and grew together. The rosemary is insane but at least that mostly goes up. The rest just grows together so I'm not even sure what it is. That said, if you want it managable (if that's even possible), I'd suggest 1 per SF. Let us know how it goes. Sinfonian Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden in progress...
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Comments (9)
oh, yes. Sorry. I forgot to mention that about the mint. Oregano can do the same thing. So can Lemon Balm- that's the one I am battling at this time. It started in the herb bed, jumped across to the bean bed, and now is residing very happily where the tomatoes and some squash are growing. Not all the same plant, but they are all relatives. LOL Janie
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Euphorbia leuconeura
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redrumed
15 years ago
I have a garden that has,2 kinds of oregano,2 kinds of mint, 2 types of chives,4 kinds thyme and 2 kinds of sage.
You can it, but it looks messy. Mine is in full sun and they all are thriving and have wintered over.
Heathen1
15 years ago
redrumed, they must not be very happy, as thyme and sage like drainage and being on the dry side, where mint likes damp. I think if you are giving mint what it needs, you will eventually lose the thyme and sage.
Just me, are you talking about pots? some of those plants get large. It's difficult, but you can look them all up online and their needs. Rosemary likes it dry, or at least with great drainage. Too much water will give it root rot.
Full sun.
Basil, apple mint and lemon balm, can take full sun where you are, I think, not at my house, but where you are they can take full sun and they like it damp. the mint and lemon balm will spread like wildfire, just to let you know.
The chives and oregano, while liking full sun, like moderate watering.
Tags can be annoying... I saw a plant at my local nursery which was grown in the Pacific Northwest, nearly a rainforest compared to me, said it was a 'drought tolerant' plant, but one I'd consider a bog plant. :D
redrumed
15 years ago
I guess luck was on my side. I had no idea what I was doing when I put them in, first time I planted on my own. It was last year and I got starter plants and they are all huge. The mints even broke out of the clay pots I planted them in and took over grass. Wish I had a digital camera....
fatamorgana2121
15 years ago
Day of the Triffids 2: Mint Invasion

FataMorgana

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:2102903}}
granite
15 years ago
[smiles about the Triffids]

FataMorgana that reminds me of 5 years back, the first summer with my husband who had no experience with gardens or yardwork but was very enthusiastic about my organic gardening. In June/July of that year I received a groaning/sobbing phone call at work from my husband that went something like this:

"...I'm so sorry hon, I'm sorry, I couldn't do anything about it, they're dead, they're all dead...(choking/gulping sounds now coming over the phone.)

I am now in terrible dread thinking that my sheltie dogs got loose and were killed by a car.

"I tried to stand them up again but they just fell over, they're dead. There's dead TRIFFIDS in the yard everywhere."

Now at the word TRIFFID I snapped out of my grieving for what I thought was a call about my dogs and said "HUH?"

Alan continued "there was a terrible storm with wind and hail, I dunno maybe it was even a tornado and now all of your TRIFFIDS are dead."

I said "Hmmmm....ah, honey, what is a TRIFFID?"

Alan said "I don't know what they are, you know those huge tall flowers you have all around the yard with the big yellow flowers, they look like the TRIFFIDS from that Sci-Fi movie from way back."

I'm hooting and laughing now "You mean SUNFLOWERS?"

He says "YES!"

LOL, TRIFFIDS in MY yard, ie SUNFLOWERS.
fatamorgana2121
15 years ago
hahaha! Thanks for the giggle!!!

FataMorgana
saintpaulia
15 years ago
I've got mine all in containers, but I'm plotting a garden layout that is separated into two major sections. All mints will stay in containers, and it's important to separate dill, cilantro, and fennel as they can cross-pollinate(or so I've read somewhere). As others have mentioned, there are some excellent books out there to help with how and where to plant. I mapped out not only the size, shape and location, but sun exposure, and taking drainage into account and misc. things like putting catnip up in containers so the local cats don't get into it.

Call All Herbs Can Be Planted Together?

Comments (9)

ksrogers

fatamorgana2121

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