DELIVERY INFO: If you order spring plants today we expect to ship from mid-May onwards. - See FAQs for more info.
Thyme
3 Plants (8.5cm bio-pots)
Estimated Delivery from mid-May
£8.99
Thyme flowers are highly scented, and good at attracting bees and other beneficial insects to the garden.
This is the most popular variety of common thyme, with dark green upright bushy foliage with pretty pink flowers.
Number of plants: 3 (8.5cm biodegradable fibre pots)
Organic*
In the kitchen: Perfect for use with poultry and pork, for flavouring stews, stuffings, sausages and pies.
Some herb plants are just great for flowery pots or growing in borders.
Here's our pick of the best to grow for their flowers...
[post_title] => 5 Herbs for a Beautiful Flower Display
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Whether you have a windowbox, a few pots outside the door or a dedicated planter, growing herbs is a wonderful addition to a kitchen garden, and equally a very good place to start growing your own.
Step One - Decide what herbs you want to grow.
This is an obvious one, but it's worth giving it some thought. Which herbs do you enjoy cooking with? What do you hope to get out of your herb garden? These things all make a difference. You might want your herb garden to be a thing of real beauty that attracts bees, in which case you could look at making rosemary, lavender and African blue basil the primary herbs. If you're keen on Italian cooking, oregano and marjoram are great. If you want to make lots of herbal teas, mint and lemon balm are must-haves.
Step Two - How much space do you have?
A herb garden can be as big or as small as you like. If you have a sunny windowsill you could easily grow some Greek Basil, some parsley and some chives, for example. If you have a few pots or containers outside, or a small raised bed, then you can pack in quite a few different types. If you have more space, you can max out on Rosemary and Lavender to put on quite an impressive display.
Step Three - Make sure they have good drainage.
Although some need more water than others (see step four) no herb will survive water logging so it's important that they have good drainage whether you are planting them in pots, raised beds or anywhere else. If you're planting them in pots, add some stones or broken crockery to the bottom of the pot before adding compost.
Step Four - Take note of the two vital ingredients...sun & water.
Herbs really are easy to grow. Fact. All you really need to do is get these two things right, and they will positively flourish. Mediterranean herbs (lavender, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, thyme) like a Mediterranean climate, so lots of sun and quite dry soil (apart from the odd shower here and there) are ideal. Basil is an Asian herb preferring lots of sunshine and moist soil (if you can rustle up a bit of humidity too, job done!) Chives, parsley and mint need water - don't let the soil dry out - but will grow well in sunny and shady spots.
Step Five - Harvest regularly to keep them going.
If you're not using your herbs for cooking very often, it's still worth harvesting them regularly. This will encourage new growth and keep the plants looking healthy and bushy rather than going twiggy or suddenly bolting. You'll receive a full growing guide with your plants which details when to cut them back etc.
[post_title] => A Beginner's Guide to Growing Herbs
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[post_content] => It helps to understand the different requirements for some of the different herb types to get the most from them. We've divided them into three groups here that will make it easy for you to care for your herbs - you can plant herbs from each group together and care for them in the same way.
Full Sun, Rich Soil
Choose a sunny, sheltered site for these herbs. They love warmth, and basil in particular will thank you for giving it a really warm place in the garden. They will all do brilliantly grown in pots and containers filled with rich compost. If growing in soil, dig in plenty of compost before planting for best results. None of these do brilliantly during dry spells, so do keep them well watered in drought-like conditions.
Mint & Lemon Balm
Marjoram & Oregano
Chives
Basil
Tarragon
Feverfew
Lovage
Full Sun, Light Soil, Excellent Drainage
These herbs do better in a less rich, slightly lighter soil with good drainage so that their roots are not sitting in waterlogged soil on rainy days. They tend to do well on a south-facing slope, where there is plenty of sunshine and water runs off easily during wetter spells. If you don't have a slope, you might choose to grow them on a bank. If growing in the soil on flat areas, try digging in a little grit to aid drainage if you have heavy soil. If growing in pots, you can still use a compost, but put some crocks in the bottom of the pots before you fill them and make sure the pots are raised so that water drains more easily.
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme,
Lavender
Partial Shade, Rich Soil
These are herbs that we find tend to bolt during warmer, drier spells during the summer, so we like to grow them in parts of the garden that receive a little shade during the day to try and keep them leafy for longer. Growing them in pots filled with compost works really well, or in beds with lots of organic matter dug in.
Parsley
Coriander
Chervil
Fernleaf Dill
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[post_content] => If you've already got all the essentials like mint, rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley in your garden, then here are a few less common herbs to try growing this year.
[post_title] => 5 Unusual herb plants to grow
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[post_content] => Some herbs will have flowered for a few weeks by now, and you'll notice the leaves beginning to look a little worse for wear. You might get a second flourish by cutting them back. Here's a little guidance for the most common herbs:
Mint often becomes a leggy at this time of year, so you can cut it back quite heavily to encourage them to grow a bit more bushily. Cut it right back to the ground once it starts to flower and you may well get some fresh growth through before the end of autumn.
Basil tends to bolt and flower, but cutting the stems right back leaving two or three pairs of leaf shoots will get it to grow some more leaves and bush out. You can do this quite regularly throughout the summer and into autumn.
Chives can be cut right back after flowering to encourage new growth. You may wish to gather the seeds and scatter beforehand, to encourage a few new plants.
Thyme will do really well from being lightly pruned after it has flowered. This prevents it becoming too woody. Cut back the oldest looking stems by two thirds but leave younger stems.
Rosemary only needs to be pruned if you feel it's getting too large. Cut stems by no more than a third to keep it tidy.
Oregano, marjoram and tarragon can be cut right back once they start to flower. They'll come back again really quickly, within a week or so.
Sage doesn't need pruning at this time of year but pick off the leaves regularly to encourage new growth even if you're not going to use them.
[post_title] => Cut back flowering herbs in late summer
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[post_content] => For those that would like to grow some herbs in window boxes or small plant pots on a windowsill, here's a look at the most suitable plants for indoor growing and some top tips.
Which herbs can I grow indoors?
You could grow pretty much any herbs indoors, although some are a little on the large side, so it's probably best to avoid bronze fennel (it's a whopper!) and Vietnamese Coriander. Others can get quite big, but you can keep the plants small by cutting them back regularly - for example, Rosemary, Mint, Sage, Tarragon.
These are our top picks for indoor growing:Coriander & Chervil – notorious for early bolting, both these herbs will grow much more leafy inside. Keep cutting them regularly for best results. When coriander does eventually bolt, the flowers are great for bees, and afterwards you can easily collect the coriander seeds for your herb rack… get the pestle and mortar at the ready!
Parsley – This is an easy one to grow indoors, and also one that is well-used in cooking so it makes sense to have it to hand. Keep harvesting the leaves regularly to keep it going for longer.
Mint – You'll have to cut the stems down quite often, but it will grow well indoors for the first year. After that, you're probably best planting it outside in large containers.
Chives(& garlic chives) – whilst they do love the sun, chives work well indoors, and if you cut them regularly they'll keep going for a long time.
Basil (& Greek Basil) - A popular one if you have a sunny, south-facing windowsill that will keep them nice and warm. Again, you'll need to keep cutting this back to keep it leafy. Pinch stems back to a pair of young leaves on a regular basis. Be careful with watering - it can be prone to rotting at the base of the stem if the soil is too damp. Better to stand a pot in a saucer of water so that it draws water from the base, and just top up the saucer once or twice a week (i.e don't let it stand in water ALL the time.)
Tarragon - this tends to do well indoors as long as it gets plenty of sunshine. Cut the stems back regularly to keep it a little more bushy.
Growing Tips
Choose a windowsill - a south-facing windowsill is ideal, but west/east should be okay too if the room itself is nice and light. Growing in darker rooms tends to lead to leggy, spindly plants. If you have a porch or conservatory that doesn't get overly hot during the day, then this is a great place too.
Choosing the pots - our preference would be for pots/window box with holes at the bottom standing in a tray of water so that they draw water up from the base. Also, try and get a nice, deep pot - some of the pots sold for growing herbs inside are very shallow and the poor plants don't get a lot of space for their roots. Aim for 15cm deep at least.
Choosing the compost - go for a good quality, preferably organic, multipurpose or potting compost and the plants should do well without the roots getting compacted and cloggy.
Watering - we'd suggest watering twice a week. It's easy to overwater when growing in pots and particularly indoors. If you're watering from the base, the water from the tray should soak up into the root ball quite quickly - if the pots are standing in water for days, the plants are being overwatered. If you decide to water from the top, let the top of the soil dry out in between waterings, but not so far that it cracks and pulls away from the edges.
Feeding - growing in pots means that nutrients are restricted, so the plants will benefit from a liquid feed. Add a little liquid feed when you're watering (follow instructions) once every 4-6 weeks and that should keep them nice and healthy.
Harvesting & cutting - as mentioned, most of the herbs will do best if you cut them regularly, even if you don't want to use them in cooking. Don't forget that you can always stand the stems in vases with flowers from the garden to make nice posies!
[post_title] => Growing Herbs Indoors
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Whether you have a windowbox, a few pots outside the door or a dedicated planter, growing herbs is a wonderful addition to a kitchen garden, and equally a very...
It helps to understand the different requirements for some of the different herb types to get the most from them. We’ve divided them into three groups here that will make...
If you’ve already got all the essentials like mint, rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley in your garden, then here are a few less common herbs to try growing this year.
Some herbs will have flowered for a few weeks by now, and you’ll notice the leaves beginning to look a little worse for wear. You might get a second flourish...
For those that would like to grow some herbs in window boxes or small plant pots on a windowsill, here’s a look at the most suitable plants for indoor growing...
