Hi everyone! I'm starting a tea garden with an assortment of herbs in containers. Any tips, suggestions and/ or comments would be greatly appreciated. The Internet has a vast amount of info but I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed.

Hi Jutta! Size your containers to fit the root growth of your herbs. Short-lived herbs such as basil and parsley, and small perennials such as thyme, will need smaller pots. Vigorous perennials such as mint, and shrubs such as lavender and rosemary, will create a lot of root mass and so will need larger containers. Most herbs need to be grown in full sun, but if they are in containers the soil will dry out quite quickly. I recommend topping the soil with a layer of grit or gravel to keep moisture from evaporating.

Thank you, June! With this I feel that I'm off to a good start. Any suggestions for pest control? The only acceptable option I found is a mix of Castile soap and water. Not sure if that'll be sufficient though.

I assume you will be eating your herbs, and will not want to use any pesticide that will leave a residue. I'm not knowledgeable about what is safe to use on edibles, so hopefully someone with better vegetable-growing experience will respond to this thread.

What part of the world are you gardening in, and what pests do you have to contend with?

Yes, it would help to know where this tea garden is. How much sun, shade, etc. What varieties will you be growing?

I would not use anything for pest control except the occasional blast of water from the garden hose.

There are certain plants which naturally repel insects. I subscribe to a blog by Wellness Mama and here is what Katie writes about companion plants. Some of these plants are ones that you may already have in your garden.
http://wellnessmama.com/2524/o...

Good luck with the garden and please, takes lots of pictures. We love to see gardens as they grow.

I have never heard of a tea garden, herb garden, yes, but not a tea garden. Do you drink tea in it? or make tea out of it? sounds interesting though. whatever it is sounds like it needs pink and yellow roses lol

I found a link from Bonnie plants that shows examples of tea gardens.
(I like that they keep certain plants in pots to prevent them spreading.)
https://bonnieplants.com/libra...

I have one of these and I didn't know it!

@Frilly. I am laughing but I am no better than you. The link to me would have been what I would have called a kitchen spice garden.

When I first read it I thought they were talking about a oriental garden.

And I have to admit that I thought a "tea garden" was a place to sit outdoors and drink a cuppa.

We have a "tea garden" section at our demonstration herb beds at our county fairgrounds. In our tea garden, we have several types of mint (in pots), lemon balm, lemon verbena, bee balm, hyssop, hibiscus "Red Zinger", lemongrass, dragonhead, and chamomile and stevia. Other years I've included fennel, parsley, and a few others I'm not thinking of.