By Jan65
North East England,
United Kingdom 
I'm planning on growing a few herbs in a pot near my back door. I've never grown herbs before, and intend to plant parsley, mint, thyme and rosemary as these are the herbs we use the most in our cooking. I might be persuaded to a couple of others too when I get to the garden centre! I know nothing about fresh herbs really - for instance, are they perennial? Once you start cutting them for use in cooking, do they grow back? As you can see, I'm a complete novice and hoping for some useful tips from all you herby experts! Many thanks.
23 May, 2010
Answers
Thank you Pamg - sounds a bit more complicated than I first imagined. I will have a look around for a little book to give me some more ideas.
23 May, 2010
We grow our basil on the kitchen window sill as it is not hot enough for it outdoors. Went to (shush) Lidl and bought a packet of their Basil seed disks, cost just over a pound. 5 disks in the packet, you place on in a pot of compost water sit on a plant saucer and within a week you'll be seeing little green shoots. When the sun is out I can almost watch our grow.
Rosemary will cope in a pot for a few years but will then need to be in the ground. Make sure it is in a very lean free draining compost, thyme also needs a lean mix.
The mints like a bit more food and are thugs, I would only ever plant in a pot.
Parsley I would treat as an annual though it can be kept going.
23 May, 2010
Thanks Moongrower for the information - sounds as though mint likes to take over so I'd be best keeping it separate, but sounds as though the others could be put in together. I see you are in Scotland - I'm in NE England so I wonder if basil might be okay outdoors here, or should I play safe? Can't wait to get started!
24 May, 2010
All I can say is basil does not cope out of doors here... Try growing indoors and outdoors and see what works. Gardening is always a huge experiment!
24 May, 2010
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if you're really interested I'd find a book-- lots about-- some tell you different ways of using them.
The rosmary is a shrub can be kept in a pot but needs potting on and will live for a number of years until too woody, just cut the ends of branches when you want some ( evenly over the bush to keep a nice shape)
Mint also wants a large pot to itself unless you want to try a mint garden -- theres a huge range -- chocolate mint is lovely for example
parsley will last a couple of years but may selfseed,
thyme is perennial but when you buy you'll find a label to explain the conditions it likes-- there are lots of thymes as well
Basil is an annual that loves heat
chives are a small bulb that regrows
as I say find a good book its fascinating--- have fun !
23 May, 2010