Not wine related but forced wfh has given me a bit more opportunity to tend to the garden and I’ve finally put my herb planter out.
I’d like some recommendations for what to plant! Would like them to be useful, and I already have mint and rosemary planted in pots. It’s a north facing garden so fairly shady. Coriander? Basil?
Tom, buy a ‘growing Basil’ pot from a supermarket and plant that. We do every year and it’s the only one we buy for the rest of the summer.
Planned a cutting of oregano three years ago and ignored it. It keeps coming back, can be used for all sorts and clearly requires no maintenance.
Thyme comes in many varieties including alpine. It’s hardy, flowers and is a good staple.
agree with @AnaGramWords on the basil plant
Sage is another one - many uses with chicken and pork
Thyme - another favourite here and fairly hardy…ours is in a shady area
Great thread idea, @tom. I’ve been thinking of growing some herbs or vegetables in my garden but didn’t know where to start! Mint and rosemary are good ideas, and a basil pot as well, thank you @AnaGramWords. Are tomatoes and radishes easy enough to tend to? And perhaps even potatoes?
tomatoes are very easy…but probably best to buy a plant or two - we normally have a mix of cherry, salad and larger - something like sun gold, money maker, harbinger and marmonde
radish…vvvvv easy…but in soil and harvest when big enough ! leave a little space between seeds else you will have to thin
Potatoes…go and buy a 5kg back unless you have lots of space !
others that are good and easy - beetroot, carrots and lettuce
Thank you so much for the advice @JamesF! OK, I’ll give potatoes a miss then haha, but I’ll give the carrots and beetroot a go!
no problem - few spring onions too and if you have space strawberry plants.
If you have a sunny wall / fence a few raspberry canes is always nice…and year after year scrum fruit !
now you tell me you have a window box 
This.
I bought expensive basil plants from the garden centre and side-by-side they did no better than the £1 from Sainsbury’s in both of the last two years.
One piece of advice - if you plant chives do so only in a pot. If you don’t, they will spread throughout your whole garden. I wish the folk who owned my house before me heeded this advice.
Same with mint, perhaps even more so!
Our strawberry patch is trying to take over the whole world.
I have oregano, mint and thyme growing all of which are tough as old boots. Like @AnaGramWords I buy a cheap pot of growing basil from the supermarket each spring. Initially I just repot it and keep it growing indoors as it’s really too cold up here for basil until well into the summer. But it does go out later. I always seem to fail with rosemary even though it’s supposed to be very hardy but every time I plant it it dies in the winter.
Not always…if you buy plants rather than starting from seed it makes it a bit easier. However, pretty demanding in terms of watering regime. I am talking greenhouse grown ones as up here outdoor ones are challenging. I grow both, and in a poor summer there are very few varieties come good.
Agree that radishes are easy. Carrots too but watch for carrot fly. I grow main in raised tubs to minimise this. Beetroot easy too, but don’t sow too early, they like a bit of warmth to germinate.
Hah, watering greenhouse tomatoes; one of my great gardening downfalls. I have tried growing them in my conservatory (used exclusively as a greenhouse) and I’m so hopeless at keeping things well watered they fail so invariably that I have given up!
Re carrots, I had terrible trouble with carrot fly. The problem got worse year on year until I lost the entire crop two years in succession. I’ve been using enviromesh now for years and never had a problem since. Although it’s plastic I’m still using the same sheets of it that I bought at least 10 years ago and it’s still perfectly good.
Interesting. The only time I’ve lost rosemary (and a pretty mature bay) was the winter of 2010/11 where we had temperatures below zero for over a week, and going down to -16c.
Since then, the main problem has been containing the growth of rosemary!
Yes I don’t know what the problem is for me. I guess Rosemary just doesn’t like me!
You guys are a bit colder than here though. Particularly in most winters.
Yep, this is why mint is in a separate pot!
Great suggestions everyone. Sage, Thyme, Basil and Chives (in a pot!) looking promising so far!
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