Need suggestions for herb/spice wall in my garden

Antuk I live in New Zealand so we are amid Winter which for some reason is the time of year that you plant Garlic here . One thing I have heard is that you plant Garlic on the shortest day of the year and harvest or pick it on the longest day of the year .

Cheers xpert11.

I had the darndest time trying to germinate my herbs and spices so in frustration, I took all of the various herbs and spice seed packets, put them all in a bowl, mixed them, then sprinkled them in a window box with fresh potting soil, and labeled it Experiment

Catnip, basil, dill and rosemary now occupy the box with a few unknowns at the moment

The catnip is supposed to make a nice relaxing tea, sort of the reverse effect that is has on cats.

Dill, for pickling later on this summer, basil for seasoning, already have clipped and dried quite a few plants while thinning out the window box, those plants love to take over.

Oh and some spearmint which is going well.

As to garlic and onions and potatoes, they were the first things I planted in late March, and they have all done very well, the garlic I expect to harvest within the month as the tops are starting to die down, same with the onions.

I did this as a test as well to see how they would do in my area, so far so good

I will have red, yellow and white onions all about baseball size or better and out of two bulbs of garlic expect to harvest about 24 bulbs, keep 22 save 2 for next season (early fall.)

The potatoes were wonderful for most of the spring, then THEY arrived....

Some kind of alien, immune to dusting, and murdering my potatoes at a rapid pace.

the dreaded Potato Bug.

Instead of harvesting nice baking sized yukon golds, I will have to settle for a couple of sessions of mashed

I like using the cinder blocks for gardening, all 20 of my tomato varieties are growing in the blocks, makes weeding easy and each year the plants get fresh soil.

All the best on this growing season, and by all means have FUN!!

reply to post by JacKatMtn


I would love to suggest plants for your herb wall. I love the idea of the cinder blocks as well. I have a very small veggie and herb garden area here in my townhouse and have ALOT of plants crammed into my space!

If you grow tarragon make sure you choose the FRENCH kind. I have 2 huge tarragon plants that just had the label "tarragon" on them and they turned out to be RUSSIAN tarragon. It smells like grass! It tastes like a weed! I found out the tarragon story reading about it online. Tarragon is supposed to have an anise scent and it says it numbs your tongue when chewed. They say to use it sparingly because its very strong (the good french stuff)

I would plant thyme if you can find it. This is my 1st plant of it and its my favorite! I never knew fresh thyme was so wonderful. I got my chives from a friends garden, just dig up a small clump, it will spread over time and all you need is 1 plant! it grows right back after you snip it.
Rosemary would be another great choice. I dont know how your weather is there but here in Illinois if you dig it up and take indoors over winter it will be able to be saved. It looks like a baby pine tree! I have my herbs right outside my back door so I can cut some while cooking easily and the scent is awesome!

my top picks would be 1) thyme 2) chives 3) FRENCH tarragon

Let us know how your garden is growing!!!