It's the beginning of a new year and a lot of us are thinking ahead to what we are going to plant when the time is right in our area.
What herbs are on your list ? Are they old favorites or new possibilities?

I am working to get all the herbs I use in the kitchen planted in my herb beds so I can have truly fresh herbs to use.
This year I will be adding
More Thyme plants
More Rosemary plants
A tomato pepper for Paprika
Trying again to get Sage established in my garden

My area grows a few herbs all season long, but some of them just don't do well. Sage and lavender aren't worth it in my area. A new cilantro variety to try is growing well right now and quite tasty.


Thymes aren't quite getting the cold they like, but are hanging on, the parsley has hung in there and will grow well in another month or so

Fennel is growing okay as well.


Oregano is year round and my preference is this one from our area. My fern leaf dill grows around the oregano voluntarily.

This picture is what has just been explained to me as a fungus- those white spots...on a parsley leaf. The parsley has gone ahead and grows anyway without apparent harm until summer gets warmer. I need to study up on it.

looks like we may have the warmest winter on record and we are working on the wettest too

I was out looking over the garden (that would normally be covered in snow )making plans and found the feverfew ,tansy and motherwort all still green

anyway Didn't have enough cilantro or camomile last year so will plant more

Want to try to make my own soap and need calendula . My source for a good goat soap has stopped making the calendula I need for my face.

always have to replace the annuals , will plant lemon grass, It gets huge and I don't use a ton so I plant it every other year

I have ordered orange scented balm to try this year.
Rosemary,lime basil, French tarragon from plugs .
Have some bay leaf trees on go....only got 6 seeds to germinate out of 20 seeds.

I built a new raised bed for tomatoes last year, and planted basil in it. Did so well I will do it again this Year, with, more varieties. Basil planned is sweet, lemon, lime, purple ruffles, and lettuce. I will add more dill, fennel and parsley for the black swallowtail butterflies, sage, even though I have failed with sage in the past, some English lavender "Hidcote", I have two Spanish lavenders, another thyme, maybe orange thyme, and sweet marjoram, which I have never tried before. As you can see by the list, a lot of herbs are really for the butterflies and the bees(basil), even though I use them, too. I have two rosemaries, but might add another variety. The parsley I have looks really great right now.

CarolineScott said:
Have some bay leaf trees on go....only got 6 seeds to germinate out of 20 seeds.

You must be very very patient to grow bay from seed

My Bay is a sprig- I up sized it's pot this morning,


I cannot grow sweet basil, stems turn woody and leaves brown around edges. I CAN grow African Blue, and am tending the cuttings hoping the water roots will allow dirt roots to develop and keep them healthy.

Kat, my sweet basil does the same, but I grow it anyway. Since I use so little, I just take the newest, smallest leaves when I harvest for myself. I leave the rest for the 🐝. When I go outside as the temp rises, if the wind is blowing I can smell it in the breezes.

Great to see all the new posts.
Thanks for reminding me I want to plant parsley and basil.
Hmmm i want to add thyme so I need to check out that orange thyme and other varieties of it. My thyme is thriving with our mild but chilly winter weather.
Most herbs are liked by both butterflies and honey bees so when I plant something for me I support them as well.
I am also planting herbs for our chickens.
Does anyone know which herbs can be wintersowed around this time. Not sure we will get much very cold weather but I would like to get some plants started before it gets time to plant stuff here

Margaret what zone are you? You might be able to start planting out in a couple of weeks, at least things that are typically called cold weather veggies/herbs. I know my parsley looks better now than it did in the hot summer. And we are about two weeks away from sowing lettuce and spinach here in 7b.

I am in zone 6. We are having a mild winter here but our coldest and snowiest period is the end of January and first two weeks of February.
I'm not used to winter sowing so lack experience to know whether it will still be cold enough to winter sow or not. We are also supposed to have a cold March.
I am not good at identifying plants when they are small so I need to start them from seed if I get anything other than the common plants or order plants online. Nurseries around here aren't into trying new varieties of anything.

I would say you would be cold planting later than me. I use the Old Farmers Almanac sometimes, but on occasion I use my own judgement. I looked at the best times do planting tomatoes, and it told me March! Way too early here for that. Our weather can be hinky,, too. We have some of the coldest weather sometimes during that time period. We have even had significant snow in midMarch! The weather has been so weird the last few years... climate change?It is still easier to re sow seeds than to lose plants that you purchased, and far cheaper, too. Lettuce and spinach are pretty hardy, they will do fine down to about 20 degrees. If I were you I would look up info on your zone or check this website. Such a shame nurseries won't carry new things. That's why I have to resort to seeds, or pay expensive prices to ship plants from websites.

March would be when I would start tomaomtoes indoors but not plant out until the end of May when we get our last frost.
Mid February wold be when we start cool weather crops indoors though the only one I try of those is cabbage which does well for me starting indoors everything else gets directly seeded into the garden.
I will keep researching weintersowing herbs to find out more about that though some may go directly in the herb bed as I think they like cold weather

Brassicas like cold. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, brussels, kale, spinach, chard, arugula, carrots, dill, umm, mint, some rosemarys, thyme, parsley, cilantro, fennel, radishes, lettuces, my Hill Top oregano, rue was also out on the nursery shelf last week, but I am in 8b/9 zone. I have to have my maters in ground outdoors early March- protected from winds or I won't get any before heat is too high. I can usually get my basils transplanted in late Feb to the outdoors, just have to baby them a month more. I am holding off til Feb to start tomato, pepper seeds, and maybe cukes.
I also grow a root beer plant, it has little leaves sprouting, but haven't checked since yesterday so it may have gotten bitten back.

The one herb that I really try to start on my own is parsley.
Being a biennial, most times what you find in stores is already on it's second year....
Best to start from seed!

I have successfully winter sown camomile, parsley ,fennel, dill, calendula ,...I think anything that would self-sow in your zone would do fine wintersown

My volunteer parsleys and dill are how I know when to sow out the other things, like oats and crimson clover, but mine grow all thru the winter and die for summer. Thyme has gotten snow and loves it. It is the wind, sleet and ice I protect from if we have any coming our way.

That wind is a killer, especially those arctic blasts from the north. Experiencing that right now, a warm up into the 60s, then cold air swoops down and back down into the 20s, 30s and 40s. If this continues throughout the spring, we will lose the peach and strawberry crops here,. These are mainly small farms and family farmers. This has happened a lot the last few years. These farmers won't be able to carry
The loss much longer, a lot of them will go out of business.

We did some major relandscaping last fall, so most of my perennial herbs were removed and will be starting over this year. Not a lot was lost as I do a lot of container growing, but will have to replant chives (onion and garlic), winter savory, thyme, sage and sorrel (french and red-veined). Just a good opportunity to do a new herb bed, right?

Like most of you, the majority of herbs I grow are perennial and stay outdoors through the winter season.

Each year I like to try something different. One year it was Papalo which I wasn't crazy about. Last year I planted Sculpit (Stridolo) which is still alive but malingering. When I ordered those seeds, I saw Lime Balm. I love all things lime so tried them. It has mouth watering ,knock your socks off, fragrant oil. As yet, I haven't used any because I want it established in ground first.

And this year, the new herb I will be growing is Pipicha. The only other annual herb I'll be starting from seed is Basil of course.

Fun to read through this thread and see how many others still grow herbs and what type.