Perennials or reseeding plants in SFG boxes?

CarolynPhillips wrote:Poor Megan OUCH
Hope that soups good.

Update: My dear, veggie-hating hubby is now scarfing down the broccoli soup. So I guess it was worth it!

[quote="Megan"

Update: My dear, veggie-hating hubby is now scarfing down the broccoli soup. So I guess it was worth it![/quote]

.....probably because of the "meaty" flavour you added to it!

Gwynn

Oh ouch...I hate it when I do stuff like that.

Heal fast!

Jen

Mmmmmm, broccoli soup sounds yummy.

Lemon balm goes well on chicken. Just chop up a bunch and sprinkle it over the chicken for a lemon flavor. Lemon Balm is a member of the mint family.

Patty from Yorktown

CarolynPhillips wrote:Bee Balm
So how do you use Bee Balm as an Herb?......... Have no idea what I am going to use it in.(dishes) I don't have much experience with fresh home grown herbs from the gardens.

Here's a link with some ideas for Bee Balm. If I had known this before I ripped mine out, I wouldn't have! Bee Balm (Monarda) is a mint relative, so keep that in mind when planting (containing) this possibly (probably) invasive beauty! It also invigorates tomatoes - both their growth and their flavor - so put it near your tommy-toes and get some extra flavor!


http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbBeeBalmRec.htm

TC

Didn't realize broccoli soup was a finger food, Megan. Hope you heal fast.

Hubby is making final plans for my new herb bed. We still have some of the 3' x 3' x 6' timbers left, and he plans to stack three of those together to make a 2' x 8' x 9" bed. We plan to use rice hulls in the bottom as filler.

So here's my question. If we have all but six inches of this bed in rice hulls, and herbs do not need rich soil, should we still use "full-strength" MM for the top six inches? Or should we use all MM in the bed since some of the herbs will put down deeper roots? Or should we dilute the MM on the top layer with some extra peat, or maybe add a smaller layer of MM and use more rice hulls?

I plan to transplant my chives, sage, rosemary, biergarten sage, Greek oregano, French tarragon, and marjoram to the bed. I still need to grow thyme, and intend to plant my parsley in this bed as well. That leaves one spot open for something else. Any ideas? I was thinking about planting alpine strawberries along one side. Is that a good idea? I've never grown them before, but one edge of the bed is in partial shade and I thought they might do okay there.

Thanks for any advice.

thank you for the link Goosegirl.
Interesting how bee balm is a companion for tomatoes.

ander217 wrote:Didn't realize broccoli soup was a finger food, Megan. Hope you heal fast.

Hubby is making final plans for my new herb bed. We still have some of the 3' x 3' x 6' timbers left, and he plans to stack three of those together to make a 2' x 8' x 9" bed. We plan to use rice hulls in the bottom as filler.

So here's my question. If we have all but six inches of this bed in rice hulls, and herbs do not need rich soil, should we still use "full-strength" MM for the top six inches? Or should we use all MM in the bed since some of the herbs will put down deeper roots? Or should we dilute the MM on the top layer with some extra peat, or maybe add a smaller layer of MM and use more rice hulls?

I plan to transplant my chives, sage, rosemary, biergarten sage, Greek oregano, French tarragon, and marjoram to the bed. I still need to grow thyme, and intend to plant my parsley in this bed as well. That leaves one spot open for something else. Any ideas? I was thinking about planting alpine strawberries along one side. Is that a good idea? I've never grown them before, but one edge of the bed is in partial shade and I thought they might do okay there.

Thanks for any advice.

My perrenial herbs (rosemary, thyme and oregano) are planted in a huge 26 inch pot that is 24 inches deep filled with straight Mel's Mix. They are doing very well. On my porch, I have a newer 24 inch bowl about 10 inches deep (round foot garden) filled with Mel's Mix and am growing a smaller rosemary, thyme, oregano, a pitiful sage that I forgot to plant until around October last fall, as well as garlic chives. Again, they are all doing well.
Flat leaf parsley is growing extremely well in two of my Rose Pots by accident as I had used the Mel's Mix before in a half barrel that fell apart, and the parsley had gone to seed before I re-used the MM to fill the Rose Pots.

My bee balm struggled for a couple of years before finally doing well last year. I hope it comes back. While it does have sort of a mint-y habit, it hasn't spread. (Yet?)

Megan wrote:

Goosegirl wrote: I want to get pictures of the MESS my yard is in right now (didn't even clean up last fall) and what it is when I am done setting up SFG.

Bwahahah, that is exactly what I did in my Megan's 2011 Garden thread. The grand mess of my backyard shame is laid out for all to see. Now I *HAVE* to fix it!

New (to me) digital camera scheduled for delivery on 2-24-11. As soon as I figure out how to work it the embarrassment will begin!

TC

I'm no herb expert, but everything I read says that herbs should be grown in poorer soil with plenty of sunshine to intensify the flavor of the oils. If they are grown in soil that is too rich they grow tall but have little scent or flavor.

Rich soil is fine for herbs that are being grown for their flowers.

That is why I wondered if herbs grown in MM have good flavor. My old herb bed was formerly lawn and we didn't add any amendments to it before transplanting the herbs. Everything grew well in it except thyme. My rosemary and lavender didn't do well until I added lime to their side of the bed, and then they took off. I read they need a higher ph than the other herbs, and that really made a difference.

My thyme is planted on top of what used to be soil but now is basically decayed bark mulch about 5-6" deep or more. So is my sage and my rosemary. All are booming. (The thyme and rosemary are happier now that it is on irrigation, though. The sage seems to be indifferent.)

ander217 wrote:That is why I wondered if herbs grown in MM have good flavor. My old herb bed was formerly lawn and we didn't add any amendments to it before transplanting the herbs. Everything grew well in it except thyme. My rosemary and lavender didn't do well until I added lime to their side of the bed, and then they took off. I read they need a higher ph than the other herbs, and that really made a difference.

I use my thyme, oregano, chives and rosemary that grow in MM, frequently and they taste just fine, but I guess if it is the only source of herbs I am using, I might not have noticed a less intense flavor.

I have not used my sage since replanting in MM

Thanks, Furbalsmom, and everyone else, too. It sounds as though using straight MM is the way to go in the new herb bed.

Megan, I never irrigated my old bed. I wonder if that's why I could never get thyme to live over the summer? That should be much easier to do in the new bed.

ander217 wrote:Megan, I never irrigated my old bed. I wonder if that's why I could never get thyme to live over the summer? That should be much easier to do in the new bed.

My thyme lived several years with no irrigation aside from whatever rain and a rare, absent-minded spray from the hose. But it really perked up and did better (and spread) with more water. Good luck with your new bed!

My experience with sage is that it tends to prefer fairly poor soil.

Megan wrote:

ander217 wrote:Megan, I never irrigated my old bed. I wonder if that's why I could never get thyme to live over the summer? That should be much easier to do in the new bed.

My thyme lived several years with no irrigation aside from whatever rain and a rare, absent-minded spray from the hose. But it really perked up and did better (and spread) with more water. Good luck with your new bed!

My experience with sage is that it tends to prefer fairly poor soil.

Hmmm, never really thought of it before, but the entire state of NV pretty much supports your sage theory! First time I rode a 4-wheeler through the desert (and over much sage brush) the incredible smell kept me thinking 'chicken for dinner sounds good!'

(not intended to offend any NV gardeners! Just that my relatives out there who garden can't grow ANYTHING without mass amounts of fertilizer - but they are not SFG'ers - I should work on converting them to MM!)

Goosegirl wrote:Hmmm, never really thought of it before, but the entire state of NV pretty much supports your sage theory! First time I rode a 4-wheeler through the desert (and over much sage brush) the incredible smell kept me thinking 'chicken for dinner sounds good!'

Goosegirl, I was on a first-name basis with hundreds and thousands of sagebrush plants when I was driving a U-Haul truck from Washington state east to the Dakotas and thence parts east. (Darn engine governors... hit a hill and you're at 20 m.p.h. maximum! Hello sage bush, nice to meet you. Plod-plod-plod. Oh, nice to meet your pal, also known as sage bush! Plod-plod-plod.....)

Just image how those who first went west felt, and there were no restrooms, the sage brush WAS the restroom.

Brings an entirely new meaning to the phrase "minty fresh!", now then, doesn't it?

TMI!

Megan wrote:Brings an entirely new meaning to the phrase "minty fresh!", now then, doesn't it?