Your herbs are very healthy looking, nice job!

Nice! I particularly admire your rosemary. For whatever reason I can't keep mine going over the winter. Be careful with the bee balm, take your eyes off of it and it will take over. It's in the mint family. We share similar zones, and I just leave the pot containing the thyme and oregano outside all year long. Dies back in the winter, but it'll green up come spring. The sage should overwinter fine. Just cut it back in the fall after a couple of frosts to keep it from getting leggy, but leave it alone the first year.

Here's my herb garden. Like jnavarro31, they're in half of one of my raised beds, all together so I don't accidentally weed or hoe them. From upper left in rows, tiny tarragon plant, chamomile, basil, purple sage. Middle row is 2 types of parsely, orange thyme, german thyme, garlic. In container across the bottom are chives, some kind of thyme, and oregano.

Thanks for your valuable inputs jnavarro and aniajs and also for sharing such beautiful pictures. Love those textured containers. So aniajs, do you use Apple mint in food preparation? I'd love to know how it is used best and would grow some. Jnavarro isn't it one of the best things to do to go out and pluck a few things from our own gardens to prepare meals? The last time I got a bunch of scallions from store I made sure to plant the root stubs in one container and those are growing nicely even in this heat and supplying me with nice greens which I noticed are much greener, more flavorful and succulent then the parent plants.

I love this forum so much because of all you helpful gardening friends. Until last summer I was gardening in my balcony and even though there were some challenges it was much easier to manage plants in containers. Now I am getting used to 'real' gardening with plants in proper beds.the Rosemary was indoors over the winter and was total fuss free. It didn't need attention at all. All I gave it was some direct sun and a little water once in a very long while. This is the first time I transplanted it to the ground. Not sure how it will react to winter even though it is protected in northeast. I'm trying to root a couple of stems right now. If I'm successful will leave the plant out side with protection and bring the rooted cuttings in. If not I'll dig out the entire plant and repot in a container to keep it indoors. I don't know what variety it is but I love that this one has a very compact habit and is packed with flavor. So don't want to loose it.

thanks for the warning with lemon balm. Someone told me it helps repel mosquitos so I planted it amongst my perennials by the patio. I have some shady areas in far ends of my yard where grass refuses to grow and which are being taken over by weedy mustards and some other weeds. May be I should shift the lemon balm In one of those

I will leave the thyme and oregano outside going forward (planning to buy again). I loved cooking with oregano and thyme so much that I became greedy with the perspective of plucking those fresh throughout the winter. Big mistake. Would rather dry some of the hervests and store in fridge.

thanks again for sharing your experience with me...

happy gardening

I use apple mint much like any mint. I find that it doesn't have as much of that overwhelming mint punch that you get from spearmint or regular mint. The flavor is a little more delicate, with a slight floral/fruity aroma. Fresh is good to add to ice water or iced tea for a refreshing drink, or in cocktails. You can make mint simple syrup. Fresh also pairs well with fruit in salads or in fruit salsas for pork or chicken. Some salads like tabbouleh call for mint. I've never made it but I imagine it would be good in mint jelly. Dried mint I use for tea. It also is a good addition to DIY beauty products. As an infusion added into a facial toner, it adds a nice refreshing, cooling feel. Just don't boil it hard, bring the water to a boil, shut off the heat and crumble the dried mint in to steep a while. My grandmother used sage, mint, and rosemary in her hair rinses. I'll throw a little dried mint into a piece of cotton or an old nylon ankle sock with other dried herbs and a drop or two of some essential oil to make a drawer or closet sachet.

I know that others have had problems with lemon balm being rather thuggish, but that hasn't really been the case for me. I just find that, in addition to a taste I don't really care much for, it grows very fast and so tends to shade its neighbors a bit too much. But unlike other members of the mint family, I haven't found that it colonizes other areas of my beds. For me it grows more or less the way parsley does, getting very bushy very quickly.

l also have gotten into herbs for a variety of reasons...,

they are almost all deer proof

they are heat and drought tolerant

many are evergreen and can be harvested year round where hardy

they are seeped in all kinds of mythology, culinary history, and medicinal practice

My favorite has gotta be rosemary (which aside from the kitchen uses, it has gorgeous lavender-blue flowers).

Also am growing:

Bay Laurel

Greek Oregano

Sage

Chamomile

Lemon Thyme

Lavender

Fennel and Dill

Basil

Ginger

Italian Parsley

Spearmint

Lemon Verbena

Lemon Grass

Kaffir Lime (for the leaves. not the fruit)

Aniajs thanks for those great suggestions. I can't wait to start growing Apple mint.

subtropix you have a huge list. I love the fact that you grow bay laurel and kafir lime, two of my wish list plants, though not sure how those would do indoors during 6 months of cold. And your Rosemary looks beautiful. I grew up in the tropics where everyone would grow ginger. Tried my hand with no luck. Guess the window for proper ginger growing conditions is too small here in my zone. Which zone are you in? Would you share some tips on how to successfully grow ginger and fennel please?

I can not grow some of these outdoors year round (Kaffir lime is potted and comes indoors before frost). Ginger is also a tropical but super easy. Purchase a fresh ginger corm for the local market (those sold in Asian markets tend to be freshest). Plant the corm in sandy soil (just plant the corm horizontally, only 1/3 of it). It WILL soon sprout roots and leaves just don't treat it like a Mediterranean herb..., it needs WATER. Regarding Bay, one of my bushes did die last winter; another has recovered from the roots to about a 1.5 feet in height. Rosemary can also be hit or miss, especially in a WET winter (though snow can also be an insulator even for this one). BTW, you might try to seek out the variety of Rosemary known as Arp (it is about a 1/2 to one zone hardier than the common one)..., strong vertical grower that one is. Verbena is also marginal, but a sunny, microclimate helps. Fennel is easy just allow space for it outside..., they get tall are fully cold hardy (at least in Zone 7). Most herbs just are not that well adapted to indoor life. I have tons of sun year round and a bit of microclimate so I can away with growing things that might not ordinarily make it in my cold winter zone. Have a great day..., off to plant more rosemary!

Thanks for all the useful tips subtropix. Ginger sprouts easily for me. Problem starts after that. By the time the plant gets suitable outdoor climate and starts growing it would be time for ginger to come inside. And inside with low humidity the plant never thrives. So even though I have greens I never got significant cro of rhizomes. The closest I got was a 1/2" tiny tiny root