Starting an herb garden and need some advice. What are the best self seeding/spreading herbs? Anything you can plant once and not have to replant for years.
Put in Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, and Chives already.
4 Likes
Winter Savory
4 Likes
Mint certainly needs no assistance from anyone…I prefer to contain it in a bed as it will spread into everything. Great to have during mojiito weather, for teas, and other beverages, though.
Calendula does pretty well for me, too.
4 Likes
Thai basil, they come back every year for me. Very fragrant.
2 Likes
Have to agree, It’s pretty invasive here. Have plenty that I didn’t ask for.
@SouthernGardener What does the basil do? Die back and re-sprout from seed?
4 Likes
They re-sprouting easily from seeds. I’m in California, not sure if they die back, but I pull them every year and they come back.
1 Like
Dill and cilantro usually pop up from seed for me.
4 Likes
Lemon balm is in the same family as mint. It has a lemony sent and flavor and makes a great tea.
6 Likes
Here are some of my favorites that I haven’t seen mentioned yet.
Anise hyssop: perennial and will self sow well, but not too agressively. Lovely sweet anise flavor for teas and cooking, pollinator favorite. My 4 year old loves this, and will pick leaves to eat right out of the garden.
Wild bergamot: bee balm relative, has an amazing oregano with a hint of mint flavor, perennial with some self seeding. The flowers are an excellent garnish and have the same flavor plus some floral notes.
French tarragon: if you haven’t tried it, you don’t know what you are missing. Anise/basil flavor with a unique warming finish. Be sure to buy plants, not seeds, and sample a leaf first. Seeds are always actually Russian tarragon, which just ain’t the same. I use the real deal with fish, chicken, pasta dishes, you name it.
Miyoga ginger: hardy (to z5/6) ginger relative, you eat the flower buds. Slice thinly and use as a garnish or pickle in rice vinegar and sugar. Does best with afternoon shade and consistent moisture.
Egyptian onions and nebuka green onions: between these two perennials, you’ll have all the scallions you could ever want, through most of the year. Egyptian onions are at their best in fall and spring, often available through the winter if it’s mild or you have good snow cover. Nebuka are available very early spring and through most of the summer and early-mid fall, with a hiatus in late spring/early summer when there are just tough flower stalks available. Nebuka are often sold as Evergreen Hardy White, but I’ve had seed packets under that name turn out to be regular bulbing onions in the past.
Bayberry/wax myrtle: native coastal shrub, super drought tolerant. Leaves and berries have a magical, unique scent and flavor. Add to soups and sauces like you would bay leaves (but different flavor). Absolutely killer in a pot of lentils.
13 Likes
Reseeding annuals like borage, nasturtium, calendula, cilantro, chamomile
3 Likes
I’ve been searching for those. Not many sell them and those that do are always out.
Anyone growing sage?
4 Likes
Try Southern Exposure Seed Exchange https://www.southernexposure.com/. They actually have two varieties each of Egyptian onions and perennial scallions. The Egyptian and other perennial onions tend to sell out in July or August, but it looks like they have some in stock as of right now. If you don’t have any luck next year, let me know and I’ll send you some Egyptian onion bulbils to get you started.
Sage is another good one. I don’t use it nearly as often as I mean to, but it’s a pretty bulletproof plant and adds a lot to the garden.
4 Likes
Sage doesn’t spread as much as some of the others, but it is perennial for me, and has held its own while the oregano and spearmint crowd it.
We have lemon balm growing in untended patches. It’s fragrant when I get out the rotary cutter on the tractor and re-open trails from overgrowth.
6 Likes
I lost my sage plants over the winter and I’m in California. Cilantro doesn’t even grow here well.
2 Likes
Curious. I’ve seen sage come back from all sorts of abuse and cold temps. But, even in perfect conditions, they’ll never last forever, I suppose.
2 Likes
Not here for some reason.
Is lavender considered an herb, it’s spreading from seed here.
2 Likes
On the Egyptian onions isn’t the seed basically a mini onion itself?
Ever heard of this place? Like $7 for 10 top sets.
3 Likes
I’ve never heard of that site, but I wouldn’t hesitate to buy from them so long as some third-party reviews (like Garden Watchdog) check out. Glancing at their offerings, I’d probably at least get the 25 for $15 deal. If I’m guesstimating my weights correctly, that’s going to be about the same as the 28g offering Southern Exposure sells, and you’ll want more than 10 plants to get your patch started. I find that if you start from topsets, you really can’t harvest much off of them the first year without setting them back. Planting at least 25 topsets will give you a better start on your patch, and you should be able to start harvesting in good quantities by the second year.
I’ve got a secret to tell you, though:
I’ve never actually bought Egyptian onions! I’ve started them a few times, but each time they were given to me or come in with compost (in a community garden). I have no idea of the provenance, but these no-name Egyptian onions have been fantastic. So I’m pretty confident any you buy from a reasonably reputable seller will be just fine. I have thought about getting Southern Exposure’s Heirloom White variety, though. The bulbs look larger on that one, so it would be an interesting comparison. Overall, I think the biggest difference is some varieties produce larger topsets that are easier to work with if you want to cook with them. If you’re just growing them for greens and the occasional bulb, the variety doesn’t matter too much.
3 Likes
In my zone 5 garden, my perennial herbs are lemon balm, thyme (lemon thyme too), oregano, chives, marjoram, hyssop, sage, salad burnet. Lavender is hit or miss for me, depending on our winter. I grow mint in pots so they don’t take over my garden. I usually give the lemon balm and chives a good haircut after flowering otherwise their seedlings will take over.
Rhubarb is another perennial if you’ve got the space for it, though I guess not an herb. Same for fennel. Dill acts like a perennial for me as it comes back from seed every year. I have it in a really tough spot that little else will grow and it has reliably come back for 6ish years now. I imagine that in good soil, it takes over pretty quickly!
5 Likes
for me here it’s oregano, parsley, sage that do best. my tarragon won’t grow out. I do have a ton of walking onion, they are good in the spring and this year I might offer to share some, I’ll likely have a lot of bulbs up top.
we have some horehound growing and it’s like a weed, worse than mint in my garden it pops up all over. I don’t like the stuff personally so I pull it. I could probably sell chunks of it. my mint stays put somehow, which I’m glad about
basil does great all summer then dies without seeding itself. cilantro and dill the same so far.
1 Like