camomile lawn

[Millymollymandy]

Can ya send me some seeds for those coins please Gunners?

[chadspad]

Hi all,
I have some lemon thyme which looks and smells lovely when touched but tried cooking with it and it didnt taste of anything. I just cut it and placed it on carrots in a roasting tin. Only just starting to learn about cooking with herbs so am I supposed to chop it or rip it rather than just lay it?

Have also just started learning about the medicinal properties of herbs and plants in the garden and I am amazed at the uses for all the plants we see every day just as pretty flowers or weeds. Just hoping not gonna poison anyone by mistake now!!

Hedgewitch - what type of mushroom are u sitting upon lol!!

[wulf]

Thyme can take a bit of bruising to get the flavours going - and you'll also find that some varieties are better for cooking than others.

What does your thyme taste like raw? The little bush I've got is so strong, it's barely palatable on its own at the moment. Great for cooking though.

Wulf

[chadspad]

Hi Wulf
I havent tried it raw. The lemon smell when rubbed in fingers tho is really strong, thought it would be nice on carrots and peas (just liked the lemon smell in the shop to be honest lol). All these herbs are well and good if u know what to do with them and how to use them. Have just purchased 5 different flavours of mint plants and havent got a clue what Im gonna do with them lol. The chocolate mint smells delicious and the pineapple one too. The thought of infusions for tea doesnt do much for me Im afraid but I will try just to be proved wrong.
Wendy

[wulf]

I don't know about fancy mints - sometimes the best thing to do is just to enjoy the scents. Have you got your herbs planted in your garden or are they still in their pots?

Wulf

[chadspad]

The mints are in pots as they are tiny still. The lemon sage is in the ground in the garden and doing really well alongside the chives, normal mint and parsley. Never realised parsley had such a strong flavour either, always thought of that as a decorative herb rather than a flavour. I have coriander, dill, & basil as seedling on my window sill and several others still to plant from seed. I have gone herb mad lol.
Wendy

[Millymollymandy]

I grow all sorts of herbs but find myself using very few of them in cooking! Mainly I use coriander (loads), dill (it's self seeding everywhere from last year), parsley, rosemary and chives. The rest I just leave for the bees and butterflies and enjoy the sight of them flowering. I never found lemon thyme very nice and would rather use regular thyme for cooking with, but that just might be my personal choice.

Oh sometimes I do pick all sorts of herbs to stuff up inside a fish that I'm BBQing, but I'm not really sure if the flavour actually imparts into the fish. It just seems like a good thing to do!

[chadspad]

I have parsley, chives, mint & the lemon thyme that are doing excellent in the garden. What others grow well outside please? The soil in my garden is really dry and pretty bad to be honest. The hamlet I live in is called Durchamp which apparently in French means hard ground and it really is that!! It is also very hot in the summer and altho we have our own spring to water the garden, the ground is dry again in the mornings. Could I asume that as I can buy seeds for every herb that I will be able to collect them myself for next year or will they self-seed?

[Millymollymandy]

My soil is dry and sandy and my herb bed is even worse! The herbs that will grow best in that type of soil and in sun with heat are rosemary, thyme and oregano/marjoram. They'll still need watering when you first plant them of course.

Oregano will self-seed easily and so will chives if you leave a couple of flower heads on to self seed. However with chives it would be easier and quicker just to divide the clump. Mint you can just chop bits of root off the plant and replant and you'll get new plants in no time at all. It's pretty invasive.

What herbs are you looking to sow from seed?

[chadspad]

I have really gone herb mad and bought seeds for loads of types - sesame, curry plant, oregano, dill, different basils, marjoram, coriander & 5 types of mint plants. Had some basil & coriander come up from seeds which I potted on yesterday but they arent looking happy at all!

I have a lovely shaded seating area but it really is shaded with no direct sunlight getting in there. Was gonna get hubby to put up shelves to grow some herbs in pots in there but seems from what Ive read most herbs like direct sunlight which is a shame, altho would that mean the direct sunshine here when it is so hot or more for UK sunshine?

[hedgewizard]

one growing tip = one cup of superlative tea

rub temples and under nose with crushed leaves for headache

[Millymollymandy]

Wow what a lot of seeds!

I grow coriander, dill and basil from seed. Coriander goes to seed very quickly so you really need to sow some every couple of weeks. I've just bought some seeds in England which were for coriander leaf as opposed to seed so I'm waiting to see what that is like in comparison to 'ordinary' coriander seeds as hopefully it doesn't run to seed so quickly.

I have found that it is very hardy (-8C no problems) and I grew it all winter. It doesn't go to seed and grows well in cool temperatures.

Dill self-seeds everywhere here and I grow it as an interesting flowering plant as well as for the leaves.

Why not try basil sown direct into the soil? At this time of year it should come up very quickly.

Ditto coriander - don't bother with it in a pot! Straight in the ground, space out about 3 inches or so between seeds. In a line, or a clump.

Re the sunshine, the herbs I mentioned earlier get a good roasting under the sun in the Med area and obviously don't suffer too much. Parsley, mint and chives could do with a bit of shade though. Somewhere where they get morning sun perhaps? If they are in pots you can move them around so it is a bit easier!

[chadspad]

Thanks for all your help millymollymandy, gonna go sow some seeds now!

[the.fee.fairy]

I planted a small chamomile plant about a month ago next to my lawn.

When i spoke to the bloke that sold it to me, he said that it will creep across the lawn and mix in with the grass, overtaking it eventually.

You can walk on it and mow it (mine's been mowed already....thanks dad!!) but i'd wait a while to mow it til i gets really settled.

Mine has started spreading sideways towards the lawn at the moment. I expect it to take a couple of years. its the non-flowering type.

Tha man also said that you can cut it - i mean when its started creeping, just cut in where you want, take away the bit you don't want (ie the bit growing into your flowerbed) and replant it where you do want it (further into the lawn!!),

Hope that helps!

[Shirley]

I planted a small chamomile plant about a month ago next to my lawn.

When i spoke to the bloke that sold it to me, he said that it will creep across the lawn and mix in with the grass, overtaking it eventually.

WOW That's fantastic... I was eyeing up the plants at the food festival yesterday but they were £1.50 each and I thought I'd need lots of them to establish a chamomile lawn for myself...

Am now definitely going to buy a couple and plant them at the edge of the lawn and let them do their stuff.

Thanks Fee Fairy