Hi:

Let us know in a couple of years if you feel the same way about it. It is a spreader worse than any herb we have grown. We originally planted it in what we thought would be an out of the way place, because it was said to be easy to grow. Well, that's an understatement.

Ours had pretty much taken over the whole area around it and spread to other parts of the garden as well. We couldn't control it and we were seriously considering zapping with a herbicide. The main plant finally succumbed when the area was dug up for the installation of a new A/C unit, and we were glad to see it go. We're still finding successor plants popping up far and wide in the garden, but we know enough now to grub them out immediately.

This is one of those herbs that I would only consider in a pot, not directly in the ground.

This post was edited by nickl on Wed, Jul 10, 13 at 16:48

Congratulations! Isn't thriving Lemonbalm beautiful? ;') But I agree with nickl, after one year of being in the ground, mine was big enough to be split into 3 plants! What I did was pot it then plant the pot ino the ground. As for recipes...

Lemonbalm Lemonade

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
1 cup of lemon juice
4 cups soda or mineral water
1/2 cup of fresh Lemonbalm leaves
Lemon slices, to serve

1. Place sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to boil over a high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved; cool.

2. Mix sugar syrup with lemon juice, soda or mineral water, and Lemonbalm leaves. Serve with lemon slices and ice.

Makes about 6 cups
Preparation is about 15 minutes

Enjoy!!

It makes a nice tea. Just pop about 12 leaves in a coffee cup and zap it in the microwave for a minute. It is a clear tea so don't weird out.

Be sure to check back forum posts. Many people have posted recipes over the years. Daisyduckworth has offered many herself. Enjoy!

FataMorgana

Use in tabouleh instead of mint (or half mint, half lemon balm) and it goes very well with strawberries (as you've seen from your smoothy).

I had lemon balm growing when I moved into this house. I had no idea what it was but loved it. Beautiful - got very tall and wide. When I discovered what it was I tried cutting back spent flower stalks. I have it primarily in a small bed growing at the base of a clematis, growing up a tall structure, and its beautiful. Now, however, its growing everywhere, including in the grass.

I have this love-hate relationship with lemon balm. It is pretty, green, thick, can always be counted on to hide an ugly spot of dirt, I make tea, pot pourri sachets, throw in in salads, soups, tabouleh... but it is a spreader, spreading from seeds and underground runners. It appears to have plans of taking over the world. I yank out the new growth around the outside of the patch twice a year (fortunately, it is not hard to pull when the soil is dampish) and I weed whack it before it sets seeds. This way I've kept it under control for about 5 years

I had a beautiful pot of Lemon Balm... until the doves built a nest and laid two beautiful eggs. Three weeks later, the chicks have flown and I'm left with a most miserable looking plant. I'll try cutting it back and giving it better water and hopefully it will recover. I'll need to watch that the doves don't return.

Oh.... should I clean out the bird droppings or leave them for fertilizer?