Hello.

I don't know much about gardening (other than the succulents I have around the house, most of my experiences have ended up poorly), and I'm looking for some help to plan an herb garden for kitchen use.

I'd like to have some parsley, cilantro, mint, basil, and possibly some thyme or rosemary for instance. Where I live (Algarve, Portugal), summers are hot and dry, and it never gets very cold in winter (freezing temperatures are very very rare). I tried to post a link to a page with details on local temperature and sun hours, but I'm not allowed to do that. If you search Tavira, Portugal, on weatherspark or some other weather website you can see the data, though.

I have a rooftop with a lot of direct sunlight (there's a wall to the east, and a low wall to the north), where I was hoping to grow those herbs on containers.

Here's my questions:
Would these herbs need some sort of shading, or are they OK with plenty of sun?
I have a water faucet on the east wall, and it would make it easier for me to get the plants near to that wall. Any problems with that?
I usually go away for a few weeks during summer. Any chance of keeping the plants alive if I get am irrigation kit with a timer?
Have I choosen any particularly difficult plant?Would they "get along" on a large container, or would it be better to keep them separate?
Could I grow these plants from seed at the end of summer, or is it better to wait for next spring?

Thanks for your help,
Pedro

I need your daylight hour lengths. As far as that goes, yes you have picked herbs with different seasonal preferences. I am in USDA zone 9a. Heat averages are 90*F from end of March sometimes, until we get a break in the late Fall-like October.
Basils are a summer herb, have a long taproot and need good drainage and water- a drip system works great. I have better luck in our heat (and 60% plus humidity year round) growing the African and Australian varieties of basil...because our humidity affects the other basils with downy mildews...I still try the ones I like- Sweet Genovese, and the Lesbos(Greek) varieties, but I harvest a leaf at a time instead of a plant at a time. Greek Column Basil (Ocimum basilicum 'Lesbos')
Oregano grows for me year around in the ground, but looks awful now in August since I allowed it to bloom, I would like to try the Mexican oregano, but have the Hill Top oregano because I prefer that flavor to others and it was created with Houston summers in mind here in my area. I have mild winters also. Mexican Oregano (Poliomintha maderensis)
Thyme is a winter plant for me- all of them. I start them in The Fall-maybe Sept- and they grow til the heat and sun length is too long, They love snow on them, will not handle ice. My favorite is the Lemon thyme, and the French thyme. Variegated Lemon Thyme (Thymus x citriodorus 'Variegata')
Parsley also needs deep taproots length as it looks like a carrot underground. It grows for 2 years before dying, but in heat it seeds all summer- most folks only grow it for a year before pulling and reseeding. It is also one I will set seeds on the ground and allow it to self seed, then thin, come Sept. The one I like is the Italian flatleaf parsley. Italian Parsley (Petroselinum crispum 'Italian Flat Leaf')
Rosemary needs fast drainage with a good bit of water, dappled shade in my area and my pot usually sets 3' off the ground. There are a lot of culinary and common rosemary. I grow Tuscan Blue, and prostate. Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus 'Tuscan Blue')
Cilantro is also a cool weather winter plant for me, but there is a new variety I have yet to check if the seeds grow true Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum 'Confetti')
All of these links give you information on those plants you mentioned, how to water, light and now I have to go look up the word 'mesic'. When my cell phone gets charged I can add some pics of my stuff growing- well, what is left anyway.

Thanks for your help, Kittriana. A lot to research, there.

Anyway, since you mentioned daylight hours, and in case it makes a difference: a minimum of 9:30 in December, 12:00 in March, rising to a maximum of 14:45 in the summer solstice.
Temperatures: average daily minumum of 46F in January, steadily growing to 68F in July. Average maximum of 60F in January gradually climbing to 86F in July, and then the opposite cycle.

Daylite lengths matter. Even my rainbow chard stalls til mid Feb when the daylight returns to 11 hrs. You have much better temps than I do, most plants have a 50*F tolerance for roots, but start their Spring surge when day temps avg 60*. The cold weather herbs like thyme/ chard/ spinach love it as long as it is above freezing air temps(36* / 38*) especially since they have short root systems, but like bare earth on their toes. Good luck!

I am very eager to start growing Herbs in our garden and to give away as seedlings packages.
Rainbow of Herbs
I would like to know about eight that flower.

A list of different color foliage

Range of Spice and Herb smells and touch

Where to go to how to break down Latin into pronunciation

bweiland74, you might have had better response if you'd started a new, separate thread, but hopefully a few herbies will spot your question here.

At the risk of sounding like I'm dodging your questions, I suggest getting a couple of good herb books—real actual paper books—and there are hundreds out there covering everything from growing to harvesting to using. You're asking a lot for brief forum answers and we need more information before making recommendations.

Your climate or location will be the first thing that determines what you grow. Then there are issues like your soil type, sun exposure and weather patterns, pots or in-ground, greenhouse, etc. What do you mean by "seedling packages?" and are they intended to be planted or kept indoors?

For starters, we have quite a bit of info in our learning section on growing herbs:

https://garden.org/learn/libra...

Most herbs flower. Some are annuals, some perennials, some biennials, some big, some smaller. What do you want, like?