Herbs, herbs and more herbs

The other day I showed you many of the potted herbs I have. Today I want to show you some of the less glamorous but more practical ones.

On one side of my garden there is a larch-lap fence belonging to my neighbour. It's not very pretty, but it provides good shelter and I have strung along it some horizontal wires to support my Raspberry canes. Between the Raspberries and the first of the raised beds is a line of culinary herbs, currently looking quite compact but later in the year they will get a lot taller and will spread out a lot.

In the view above you can see Oregano,Thyme and Rosemary, and of course Raspberries against the fence. (Shame about the view of the wheelie bins and the "Dalek" compost-bin...)

Young Raspberry canes - Autumn Bliss



Young Marjoram with Lemon Balm at left of picture

Oregano with Thyme at rear left

Also in the border (just behind the place where I took the first photo) there are a couple of clumps of Good King Henry. These days, with so much else available, I tend not to use the GKH, but keep it just for interest because I like the shape and texture of its leaves.

Good King Henry

It needs very little maintenance and tolerates poor site and soil conditions. The place where this one is growing is dry sandy soil under a conifer tree, yet it still comes up year after year.

Good King Henry

About the only other thing that will grow in such conditions is Comfrey, although I would also have to say that Comfrey prefers moister soil.  I use it for making Comfrey "Tea" as a plant food. This plant also has a fascinating leaf texture, doesn't it?

Young Comfrey leaves

Next along after the GKH and Comfrey are my two Fennel plants, currently putting out lots of complex and delicate new leaves.

Bronze Fennel

While photographing the Fennel I noticed this tiny volunteer Pea plant near it - must be from a pea that I put out for the birds to eat earlier in the year, when I was disposing of all my old seeds!

The Lavender is covered with soft new growth too. I grow Lavender purely for ornamental purposes, though you can use it in the kitchen. Some people use it for flavouring things like biscuits or sugar, but I'm not keen on the taste. To me it seems "antiseptic".

Lavender

This is one herb that I really don't recommend planting in the open soil - Mint. If you allow it to, Mint will spread very rapidly and take over the whole garden. It's better kept in pots.


Moroccan Mint

Mint is the traditional accompaniment (in the form of Mint Sauce) for roast Lamb, which is firmly associated in our food culture with the season of Spring. Next after Parsley, this is our most frequently used herb.
Parsley. Yes, for me that's a problem. Without devoting all six of my raised beds to the task I could probably never hope to keep pace with the demand for it in our kitchen. I do grow a little of it, usually in pots, but it's never enough, so we have to buy it.

Parsley

Apart from some seeds that have only just germinated, that paltry little pot of it is all the Parsley I have in my garden at present!

Finally, a picture of my Chive supply. That's a bit more like it!

Chives