Green Wall of Herbs

[Ed Davies]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Harris said:

There are probably already good designs for doing just that on some of the alternative hydroponic growing sites. . .

 

Ages ago I was browsing around about photosynthetically active radiation (the bits of the light spectrum which plants use for growth). There was one site which was being very specific about how the red and blue bits had different effects which I thought was odd as surely it'd depend on the species. Took me a while to twig that they only had one species in mind. Well, it didn't say that anywhere, did it? ?

[MaryM]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

Is not the challenge with hydroponics that you have to mix your taste from the nutrients?

 

@Ferdinand now you've got me worried

 

I don't use hydroponics but I do use an awful lot of horse muck

 

gives a whole new meaning to what my friends say my cooking tastes like ...  ?

[Sue B]

One thing to avoid (it’s not a herb but used in flavouring) is horseradish.  Worse than mint for taking over.

 

we have had herb beds in our last 2 houses.  A raised bed that bordered the patio.  The bed was about 2ft wide and joined the main flower bed that went down the garden at the end.

 

Sage and rosemary grew quite large and needed pruning to keep under control.

 

Chives just kept coming back all over the place - they are now in a pot to keep them contained.

 

Various thymes give love fragrant ground covering.

 

Radishes grow really quickly and seem to get hotter the longer they are in the ground!

 

Fennel (the herb) and Dill are really quite pretty but grow tall and need a fair amount of room.

 

Basil i I ended up keeping indoors on the kitchen window-sill - it worked better there than in the garden and made the kitchen smell nice.

 

Coriander I always struggled to keep alive. Tarragon is one of my favourite herbs but make sure you get the right type - there is French or Russian and one has flavour and the other doesn’t.

 

I really miss my herb garden that was easily reached from the kitchen.  Now it is in the kitchen garden and I don’t get to cook much anymore either.

[Ferdinand]

i’m Going to a winter garden walk at Hardwick on Tuesday, so may come back with a list of shallow rooted harvestable-young annual herbs suitable for small plant pots in a herb wall ? .

 

@Sue B you might enjoy treetop onions if kelp under control, or shallots.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Gone West]

11 hours ago, Sue B said:

One thing to avoid (it’s not a herb but used in flavouring) is horseradish.  Worse than mint for taking over.

We've got horseradish growing wild in the verge opposite our house. It's been there for years and keeps spreading. I certainly wouldn't want it in the garden.

[Ferdinand]

Since my herb wall is likely to be entirely in 4” or similar plantpots, regularly renewed, horseradish will probably not be present.

 

Or turnip !

Edited February 3, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

 

(Slight diversion)

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

I went on the winter garden walk at Hardwick today, and it was lovely reminiscing with the gardener about the previous gardener who had been there in the late 1970s when my sister used to go along at the age of about 11 and ask about the herb garden she created at our childhood house. I can still remember her doing candied borridge flowers ... once !

 

They have competely redone it 2-3 times since.

 

The list  of herbs suggested for a herb wall was quite limited - as most herbs are either small perennial bushes or what the gardener termed "sub-shrubs" (new word on me).

 

These were some of the suggestions - generally said the selection we have discussed on this thread is a good placed to start:

 

Thyme - especially creeping thyme.

Salsify (more suited for @AnonymousBosch's winter garden as it probably wants to be in a tub or raised bed) -- has edible roots and leaves.

Fennel and Jerusalem Artichokes - but to be treated like salsify I think.

Spring onions

Chives

Coriander

Parsley

Sorrel / lemon sorrel

 

Beet for the leaves (ie beetroot)

Radiccio or other types of chicory (had not though of that)

 

Particularly edible flowers - nasturtiums, marigold / calendula, edible violets and a couple of others. Apparently these are fashionable, so I will need to grow a goaty or sparse neckbeard to be allowed to use them ? .

 

Borage mentioned as edible flowers, but I suspect those require a container as it is a bush.

 

I'm also aware that chamomile would work well, but I do not know of uses other than tea or lawns, and I prefer normal tea.

 

I'm badly missing something with Italian type flavour.

 

Also micro-veg suggested. Things like pea shoots - needs some thought. Reminds me of how students sow mustard and cress on their colleagues' bathmats in the holidays (not my students).

 

I might try treetop onions (small strongly flavoured onions grow at the top of the plant not the root),  but they may be a bit rampant.

 

A few others I need to thinks about (from here?

 

Micro chervil, whatever that is.

Micro kohlrabi

Chard (?!)

Pea Shoots

Red Mizuna

Micro tarragon

Micro watercress. I like watercress (but I prefer gin).

Scallions.

Arigula.

Fenugreek

 

Question: Are there any spices that can grow the same way?

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

Very useful thread of different forum, especially the bbig post in the  middle:

 

https://www.thegreenlivingforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=112241&start=0

[Gone West]

4 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

I can still remember her doing candied borridge flowers

Borage is a great herb to grow although if the conditions are right it can take over a little by self seeding. When I were a lad living at Wrotham Heath it used to grow wild in our back garden and regularly had slow worms and adders in amongst it. We grow it because the bumblebees love it.

[Ferdinand]

Continuing to gnaw at this, I think that what it needs for effective propagation / harvesting is likely to be seed trays, hung off the wall or mounted at perhaps 25 degrees for better light, rather than the felt pockets.

 

I'm reminded of the selection of picking trays that used to be used by operatives stuffing circuit boards in electronics factories.

 

One hazard is getting bits of compost in your salad when harvesting - so that may say something about tuning the depth of each tray.

 

It could be a case of angled  staging, or some other system.

 

Angled shoe rack? Retail display unit? Retail grid display of the type i use for kitchen utensils?

 

Unfortunately peat based compost seems better,  and Selwyn Gummer has just thrown his toys about amateur use of peat based compost in a fit of symbolic virtue-signalling.

 

Processing .... processing ... 1m wide 1.5m high 350mm deep takes 5kg per layer £36. Suspect that it would need something a bit more industrial.

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Sue B]

Saw this on FB and thought of you @Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

Ugh !

 

Might use the girlfriend's old tights, instead.

 

F

[Sue B]

It’s very blue peter ?

[Gow]

On 01/02/2020 at 21:23, Ferdinand said:

So which herbs work well.

 Have you considered having fun with moss art?  Our local social entreprise cafe has used pallets for shelves and tables  and moss art inside the cafe

You'll find the recipe online

 

 

 

[Ferdinand]

As it happens, things are slowly moving forward.

 

The big electric recliners went on Sunday, the cleaner is briefed to focus on the conservatory tomorrow, and the Ikea IVAR prototype structure will be going up on Wednesday.

 

Then I can start thinking about seed trays.

 

I have put a couple of Guy Rogers teak 1960s chairs back in the lounge and the room seems twice as large; I will have to tell 21C people to go on a diet to fit. I am missing the day bed, which is still in the old master bedroom.

 

F

Edited February 24, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Bitpipe]

My mate's indoor herb garden is a big success. 

 

 

 

[Gone West]

We planted a lot of herbs as plug plants last year and they’ve really grown well. We had a mixture of culinary, and flowering types for the pollinators. We also planted a prostrate rosemary in a pot which is supposed to trail but ours is resisting at the moment. Hopefully gravity will take over soon. We also took some cuttings from a wild honeysuckle and they are doing well. Wendy’s keen on growing herbs and has parsley, chives, sage, thyme, basil, bergamot, bloody sorrel, tarragon, sweet majoram and lemon verbena. I’m more interested in the flowering herbs. Some like hyssop attract the bees and can be used in cooking.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bored Shopper]

One thing I dislike re green wall felt pockets is that they rot quite quickly. If you stuck them on a garden wall make sure you waterproof that bit as the wall would be affected when you water your herbs (the pockets dry up quite quickly so lots of watering). If permanently stuck on the wall quite high up planting may be inconvenient (I hate doing stuff on ladders). 

ALso the beautiful green colour of felts will get discoloured / dirty / patchy quite rapidly.

[Ferdinand]

This is the current lot of micro crops being grown. About 10 of them.

 

Mizuma.

Watercress.

Spicy leaves.

Chives.

Coriander.

Mixed Rocket.

2 x parsley.

2 x lettuce (Little Gem and Lamb's  Lettuce).

 

The photo is after about 5-6  days. Apart from the middle top which is an old one on its 4th harvest.

 

One problem with this setup is slightly uneven lift, so I am turning the big trays every day.

 

People still seem to be a gun trouble getting compost .. gave a bag to my cleaner who started again today.

 

The gym coach's GF, who is fully sheltered, has had a 25% portion of nearly all my packets of seeds to get her going with some indoor gardening and some stuff for outdoors too, which is gratifying. 14 types of seeds supplied in one of those fortnight pillboxes, with an admonition driven in with a cluebat to be very careful about tipping it upside down ‘cos the doors are cr*p and will all open together of their own accord.

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Cpd]

Not a green wall but it’s my take on raised beds.... fish box garden. Mostly designed keep chickens out but lots of other advantages with it being raised of the ground to waist height.