Perennial Herbs and SFG

I am planning what I want to put in my boxes and I have a lot of perennial herbs on my lst. My question is, in the fall can I just leave the perennials in the bed so that they can come back next year or do I need to pull them up. Please say no!

Hey there, welcome to the forum and to SFG!

For my $0.02, I suggest that you consider devoting a bed and/or containers to your perennial herbs. (Some perennial herbs spread aggressively, which can be a good reason for using a container.) You can certainly leave the perennials in the bed to overwinter--mulch may help there--but depending on variety you may want to dig them up and divide them every couple years so they don't choke themselves.

What I did in my garden was to move all perennial herbs to border landscaping beds (or containers) so that I could make the best use of my SFG boxes and rotation. Also, keep in mind that many herbs do prefer poor soil and low water.... and Mel's Mix is anything but poor. I do have my landscaping beds (and herbs) on irrigation but try to fine-tune it at much lower volume (slow drip) compared to what my SFG beds generally get. (Cheaper that way, too.)

My experience is that chives come back without mulching. Rosemary is major hit-or-miss for overwintering our zone....I tried for years until I finally I found a plant that would live through. And have to knock on wood to hope it made it through another winter this year. Other woody herbs like oregano and thyme will come back and spread, slowly. My sole lavender plant, acquired last year, looks like it lived but until it greens up I won't know for sure. Once sage gets established, it will rock your world.

Yup.......what she said. I have an herb bed......oregano, thyme, sage, chives, come back every year without any help at all. One of my boxes is also a perennial flower bed. I like having the flowers among the veggies for bees but I am needing that bed for more vegetables so have to make some changes.

Gwynn