Im growing an herb garden...?

Any tips?? I am growing:

Sweet Basil

Rosemary

Cilantro

Parsley

Chives

Sweet Peas

Oregano

Sage

Mint

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Chamomile...

Any tips for these plants?









and btw something keeps eating the tops off of the parsley and cilantro.
Im growing an herb garden...?
Sweet Basil—full sun, pinch to get branching

Rosemary—likes alkaline soil

Cilantro—full sun

Parsley—full sun

Chives—good drainage, can handle a wide range of light exposures

Sweet Peas—like cool weather

Oregano—likes a little protection from west sun

Sage—run it towards the dry side, full sun

Mint—likes it wet, limit it’s growing area, it invades

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Chamomile...sun, clip off the flowers



look for caterpillars munchin' on plants some butterfly larvae use them as a food source



When you ‘baby’ herbs, it weakens the intensity of flavors so neglect them a little
Reply:Parsley, dill, fennel and carrot are all in the same family and are host plants for the Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly.



They lay their tiny eggs on these plants so that the larvae will have an immediate food source when they hatch from the egg. Another name for the larvae is Parsley worm. The best thing you can do is to put super fine bridal tulle or netting over the plants so that the butterflies can't lay their eggs on the plants.



All of the rest of the herbs you are growing except for the mint can do well in partial to full sun, but will need to be watered fairly often and will benefit from Neptune liquid fertilizer. The mint will do best in dappled shade.
Reply:Thyme is a must for an herb garden in my opinion... It is great for cooking and the small leaves are visually appealing. And there are many different types of mint that you might try (though I'm not sure what you might already have), peppermint and spearmint are good for the basics but there is a wide variety available. But mints do tend to take over if allowed, as do many oreganos, though all are easily removed/relocated. In my experience, the tall version of rosemary does best in an herb garden vs the bushier type that does better if grown alone. I've had the bush type try to take over and shade out a lot of my smaller plants. Make sure you keep your sweet basil topped--snipping off the flower buds will promote a bushier growth.



I don't know what growing zone you are in, but keep in mind that many of the plants you listed are annuals in most regions and aren't going to come back next year. I'm in zone 8 and rosemary, oregano, sage, mint and thyme are all perennials. My chamomile from last year came back this year, but we had a very mild winter that didn't kill it. An alternate to planting annuals outside is to get a strawberry pot (one of those taller pots with the holes in the sides) and plant smaller sized annual herbs in that--allowing it to remain outside until the late fall and relocating it inside for the winter.



And as for the pest that is topping your parsley and cilantro, it could be snails or slugs, maybe even grasshoppers. A pesticide free solution might be to add a few marigold plants in between herbs as those pests don't typically like them. Sounds like you have a good start though, good luck.