Just how big is this table? And the pots that you intend to put on it?

I strongly recommend that you read past posts on this forum about mint - and how difficult it is to contain, how far it can travel etc. I think you could be in for a shock!

In short - mint has a yen for world domination. And you have no fewer than 3 of them - Chocolate Mint, Mint (which I assume is spearmint, or common or garden mint), and Lemon Balm.

They will do OK in partial shade or full sun. The soil must be kept permanently moist (never allow to dry out completely, never soggy). And LOTS of room for those aggressive roots to fill up in no time flat.

Thyme needs as much heat and sun as it can get.

Mint deters White Cabbage Moth, aphids, fleas, ants, mice, flea beetles. Attracts earthworms, hoverflies and predatory wasps.

Thyme deters Cabbage Worm, Cabbage loopers, Whitefly. Attracts bees.

Lemon Balm attracts bees. Dried and scattered over garden, will deter many pests, including Squash bugs. Accumulates phosphorus.

I've never grown Russian Sage, but I found it quickly by doing a Google search. It is NOT a true sage at all, and is regarded as mainly ornamental. (The herb we know as Sage is Salvia officinalis, a member of a large family of which only a very few are edible.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Russian Sage

Rusian sage is a tall (about three feet if well grown), lacy or feathery-looking perennial and strongly prefers full sun. I have tried it in part sun a couple of times with little success. It is good as a backdrop for other things in an in-ground planting. If there is a hot, sunny place in front of your building available, you could slip it in there--Another possibility would be a larger pot on the floor in the sunniest spot you can come up with.

I don't think Russian Sage has culinary uses, but it is quite attractive. Regular garden sage is what you probably want. It is sort of gray-looking, and would be quite happy in a pot. It, too, prefers full sun, but I have had it grow unenthusiastically in part sun, and even flower the following year.

The chocolate mint, mint, and lemon balm will all grow fine in individual pots on the same table if you keep them clipped.

Lemon balm otherwise will grow straight up to about two feet and then produce seed, which is totally viable and may spread all over your area if it can escape your porch. I have not seen it spread by runners--it took over an entire little herb garden I had, and then spread through my whole backyard, though (admittedly, I was distracted by having and caring for my two toddlers at the time). If you use it--and it is very useful to make cooling teas--this will not bother you, though. It's probably the best summer herb tea there is.

Chocolate mint, in my experience, is much more sensitive to conditions than regular mint. It is more sensitive to drying out, and may be less inclined to winter over in a pot. I have one I recently planted directly in the ground, in a fine mulch, and it is adjusting better there than it ever did for me in pots with more clayey soil.

Both mints will send out runners and try to take over the others' pots eventually, if they are happy on your table, but that's not really a problem if you keep them clipped. The larger the pots you are able to provide, the more mint you will get.

If you use potting soil, add a moisture-holding amendment so they will not totally dry out between waterings. I always purchase bags of humus, topsoil, and sand, and mix my own (outside) so the plants have more natural nutrients.

If you have any rooted offshoots, consider also planting those around your apartment foundation if that is a possibility. My theory is that the bees and other creatures are helped when they have mint and other herbs available to them.

:o)

Awesome! Thanks for all the info. :) The Russian Sage being ornamental is completely fine with me. It caught my eye at the swap (even with just a few little leaf sets) because of the way it looks. I don't use too much Sage in cooking and what I do need can be Spice Island powdered. The Lemon Balm does seem to kind of grow where ever it wants...lol...the plant I got has about 6-8 stems/branches anywhere from 6 inches to over a foot long. I plan on potting it up to about a 3 to 5 gallon pot. Can I plant the Mint & Chocolate Mint both in the same pot/basket (like one of those 2 ft long straw lined black metal ones at HD)? Will they cross-pollinate or whatever if I do that? No big deal if I have to seperate them. I'd like to grow them both in one of those rectangular basket things though. If I do separate them, they'll probably also go into 3-5 gallon pots. If they grow that crazy, would a small trellis be good for them to grow up/on or do the runners need to stay on the soil mix?

I'll probably have the Thyme in my full sun area. I just have to find something to put it in. It's a slight baby now, so I have thyme to figure out what to pot it in. ;-)

daisy: Great info about the pests they repell! Makes me love my herb garden even more. =)

eibren: Very good to know about the watering. They'll probably end up going in some MG Moisture Control Potting Mix with some Canadian peat lining the bottom to hold in the water a good bit. My Basil Tree (I say this cuz it was huge! Gotta love Basil) I grew last year was kind of the same way.

Thanks y'all! I'll post some pictures of the plants on here sometime soon.

Peace - Steve

Do NOT plant any two mints in the one container. Both will end up tasting like something truly awful. Besides, since mints are such aggressive growers, one will probably dominate the other, and probably kill it (choke it to death). NOT what you want!

I get the impression (rightly or wrongly) that you have very little idea just how aggressive mint can be! You have seen the Lemon Balm giving you a teensy hint of it, however you ain't seen nothin' yet! So I urge you to use the Search button at the bottom of the forum page and read through all the many threads about it. Truly, it can be an absolute thug!

lol...ok, will do! =) Thanks for the advice. If it's going to be that aggressive, i'll probably buy some mini-trellis' for them, unless the runners need to run on soil.

I've never seen mint climb; it tends to throw out rootlets at the joints anywhere the soil is moist enough.

That doesn't mean you couldn't try it; maybe you will start a new fad!

Sometimes propagation is done by fastening a moist medium to the joints of some plants, covered with a moisture-resistant covering such as a baggie. You could try that if you do the trellis thing and want offshoots. It also might make it happier to be trellised.

Cool...i'll see what I can come up with. :)

The Lemon Balm had now been potted up & has a trellis to climb, so we'll see how that works out for it. =) Here are some pictures of my new herb garden I received at the MTPS (Middle Tennessee Plant Swap).

Lemon Balm:

Mint:

Russian Sage:

Thyme:

Chocolate Mint:

They all need much larger pots, and they all need some more sunlight. They are decidedly 'leggy', which means they are literally reaching out for the sun.

A plant is only as healthy as its root system. If the roots don't have the space to spread out, they can't get at the nutrients they need, and they die - either of starvation or of choking themselves to death.

I recommend an immediate repotting!

LEMON BALM?

What you have is not definitely a LemonBalm but it is lemon verbena I think.
Lemone balm's leaves do not look like That.
I have just bought and planted a lemon verbena? in my HG few days ago. It has 3 or 4 leggy shoots laying down.
Lemon Balm grows upright and bushy with strong stems even when small.

From what I have heard lemon verbena can grow and become a bush. Although aged lemon balm can get bushy two but its top would die in winter(in zone 8 atleast) and grows back next spring.
The point is that Lemon verbena by itself needs about a 12" pot, maybe bigger.

daisy: I plan on it, but only have so much money available for pots & potting mix every check. =) The Russian Sage has been potted up. The Lemon Balm has been potted up & has a trellis now like I mentioned. The Chocolate Mint is next (and obviously in dire need of it...lol).

Cyrus: In it's shown form above, the Lemon Balm is a few cuttings, not an actual plant yet. It's one step further on that road now due to being potted up. I got it from a local master gardner, so i'll need to see wikipedia-based proof that it's not Lemon Balm, if you have some links available. =)

- Steve

Sorry, Cyrus, I have to disagree with you.

That picture looks just like my lemon balm - well, the shape of the leaves, that is. It's definitely not lemon verbena, whose leaves are pointy, and quite rough to the touch when you rub your finger from tip to stem. Lemon verbena leaves are narrow and pointy, and they have a very strong lemon-y aroma when crushed.

Lemon Balm looks very like spearmint - much more rounded-shpaed leaves, and an almost-yellow, pale green colour. When crushed they smell like a lemon-mint combination.

Lemon Balm:
http://www.risc.org.uk/garden/plants/lemonbalm_600w.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful:

After looking at those pictures, i'm 100% sure it must be Lemon Balm.

To Daisy and tn_veggie_gardener

You are right. I was wrong.
I had the impression that what is in that pot is a single plant. But it was several cuttings. Lemon balm is so easy to grow from seeds that I woner why one will use cutting. Also it seeds like crazy. Again, I have never seen a lemon balm with such long thin branches. They become real bushy even without pinching off. But aparantly the cuting lacked light and grew leggy and thin. Anyway, I was mistaken. I have had lemon verbena just for a few days and cannot even picture its leaves shape at the moment. The sources show that it has long narow smooth edged leaves. I will look more closely tomorrow morning.

Cyrus

Some forms of spearmint have pointed leaves, too. There are quite a few forms of spearmint on sale in our local shops right now.

Steve, I don't understand why you are using trellis's. None of the herbs you have have vining tendencies. If you are using the trellises for support, I'd recommend trimming back the plants instead to put more energy into making roots and filling out the plants themself. If you don't mind what the pots look like think of recycling 2 liter soda bottles, gallon jugs with the tops cut off or anything slightly resembling a gallon size pot and poke 4-5 1/4" or 1/2" holes in the bottom for drainage. If you have a recylcing center near by I've never found one that doesn't mind you going through it for containers (this is from experience) and they are free. Yard sales are another great source of cheap pots, I just bought a barrel, square plastic patio container and a 3 gal foam planter for $3 (don't be afraid to bargain...they were asking $5 for 2 of the pots and got them for $2. But do save your money and use a soil less potting mix preferably without fertilizer (the fertilizer washes out after a couple of waterings anyway).

Daisy, I disagree with keeping the soil permanently moist. This may be so until and only until the plants are established, once the roots have developed enough that the plant is thriving allow to dryout between waterings. Many an herb has died from over watering, herbs prefer the soil to dryout between watering.

The search for Sun.

I know it well.

:o/

karen_b: I am using a trellis mostly because it's what I have available. With an apartment porch container garden, I am obviously limited in space & would prefer for things to grow up instead of out, if at all possible. Any suggestions that follow along these guidelines, would be much appreciated. =)

I am quite aware of how to find cheap pots. My strawberries are growing in a large wicker-like basket I bought at a yard sale for 50 cents. Another 50 cents got me two beer buckets, which i'm using for pepper plants. No need for the advice on how to find these...lol...as poor as I am, I can find them quite well myself. Regarding the potting mix to use, thanks for the suggestion, but I am no newbie to gardening. I have my own potting mixes I use (a few different ones depending upon the plant it's for).

Hi tn_veg :)

Your comment about things growing up instead of out reminded me of a vertical container garden I saw recently (link below). I haven't tried it myself - I just thought it was neat. I imagine it as a wall of strawberries... yum :)

I figured I'd post it in case you or anyone else found it useful. :)

How's the lemon balm doing? I'm off to search this forum for info on mints. I love them and they don't seem to be at all invasive up here. I was actually surprised to see so many people saying they are! I'm hoping to find out if it's just that they're more controllable in this zone or if it's something else...

Here is a link that might be useful: Ten Green Thumbs: Vertical Container Gardening

atabei: Sorry I haven't responded sooner. My membership got suspended for a few days (no comment.) =) I have seen that site before. Has some awesome info for vertical container gardening. The Lemon Balm is doing great! I've already harvested off it a few times. It currently has a few of these little white flowers on it. I think i'm going to pick them off, even though most people say they don't affect the taste of the plant or make it "go to seed." Mint is quite invasive. The three kinds I have are growing like crazy & would probably be all over my porch if they were allowed to be...lol. I'm going to do a blog update today with the good pics (professional ones taken by my wife, a prof. Photographer). I'll post a link to it later today sometime.

Peace - Steve

I started Russian Sage a few years ago when it became very popular here & the pretty blue flowers (flowering right now here) caught my eye. Well, I found it can soon become invasive too! It spreads its roots/stems underground so the main plant soon spreads out so the initial plant gets huge! I go & chop around the main plant to cut those underground running roots (& get my hands all sticky from the leaves!)& prune it to the ground almost each Fall. There is now a smaller version I see available here that may not be so invasive & although I will keep the plants I have I will never transplant them anywhere else! Have any others had this 'problem'?

Here's an update on my Herb Garden...they are mixed in with my berry garden plants.

Steve's Garden

That is definitely Lemon Balm. I have a huge amount in my garden that I have to trim back weekly. I dry some in the toaster oven for use in cooking, and use some fresh. I put it in salads, too. It is scrumptious on fish. It doesn't taste great by itself, to me. It doesn't grow on runners like the other mints., but it bushes out and takes over very quickly. If I were you, I'd cut yours back (the same as you would do for sweet basil,) at every 4-6 leaf sets.

I like the smell of Russian Sage and the appearance, but it is a devil to get rid of. It sprouts everywhere, and like other poster said, roots go deep.

Now I have one I planted in a big planter. As for Lemon Balm, it's odd - I know it is an invasive plant, but I have one in my garden which I can barely keep alive. I love the smell, and it makes a soothing tea.

I see no reason why you would need a trellis for any of these. The object of growing mints, lemon balm, etc., is to cut and use it. Any branch that gets long enough to make it useful while leaving at least a few leaves at the bottom, just clip it off to make tea or dry for later use.