GrowingHQ

Herbs

33 herbs, split by what they want from the soil — the division that decides whether a herb bed half fails.

The herb bed in August

The whole of August →

Next month: 4 more jobs open in September. See what changes

Start from your situation

Two groups, two watering regimes

Mediterranean herbs want poor, sharply drained soil, full sun and very little water; they are killed far more often by kindness than by neglect. Soft-leaved herbs want moisture and fertility, and several of them bolt without it. Treating both the same way is the commonest reason a herb bed disappoints, so the two groups below are watered differently.

Which side of the bed

Sun and sharp drainage

Drought-tolerant, mostly evergreen, and best in the poorest sunniest spot you have. Water established plants only in prolonged dry weather — and see what winter wet does to them on any of these profiles.

Moisture and fertility

Soft-leaved herbs that need consistent moisture. Several bolt when checked by drought, and most are picked hard and often rather than left to grow.

Why some herbs stop and others come back

The other question that decides a herb bed is how long each plant intends to live. Coriander and dill are annuals that flower and finish in one season, however well they are treated; parsley makes leaf for a year and runs to seed in its second; rosemary, mint and sorrel come back for years. A coriander running up in July is not a failure, and feeding it will not help.

Annual, biennial and perennial herbs over two yearsA two-year timeline with three rows. The annual row, examples coriander and dill and summer savory, shows leaf growth through the first spring and summer, then flowering, then seed, then the end of the plant before the first winter — nothing continues into year two. The biennial row, example parsley, shows a full first year of leaf with no flowers, then overwintering, then a short burst of leaf in the second spring followed by a flower stem, seed and death by the second summer. The perennial row, examples rosemary and mint and sorrel, shows leaf growth each spring and summer, flowering each year, a dormant or slowed period each winter, and regrowth continuing beyond the end of the timeline. Vertical markers show that flowering is the point at which leaf production falls away in every case.Year oneYear twospringsummerautumnwinterAnnualcoriander, dill,summer savoryleafplant endsBiennialparsleyleaf, no flowersoverwintersplant endsthe short second flushPerennialrosemary, mint,sorrelleafdormant / slowleafonmaking leaffloweringsetting seeddormant
Timings vary by herb, season and sowing date — the shape is the point, not the dates. In every case, flowering is the moment leaf production falls away.
Compare all 33 herbs side by side

Light, spacing, minimum pot depth and container suitability in fixed columns, so you can run an eye down one of them. This is the view the card grids above cannot give.

33 plants
PlantTypeLightSpacingMin. pot depthIn a container
BasilOcimum basilicumHerbSome care neededFull sun20–25 cm15 cmwell suited
BayLaurus nobilisHerbStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade150–300 cm35 cmwell suited
BorageBorago officinalisHerbStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade45–60 cm30 cmworkable
ChamomileChamaemelum nobileHerbStraightforwardFull sun20–30 cm15 cmwell suited
ChervilAnthriscus cerefoliumHerbSome care neededPartial shade, Dappled shade20–25 cm20 cmwell suited
ChivesAllium schoenoprasumHerbStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade20–30 cm15 cmwell suited
CorianderCoriandrum sativumHerbSome care neededFull sun, Partial shade15–20 cm20 cmwell suited
Curry leafMurraya koenigiiHerbDemandingFull sun100–150 cm35 cmwell suited
DillAnethum graveolensHerbStraightforwardFull sun20–25 cm25 cmworkable
FennelFoeniculum vulgareHerbSome care neededFull sun30–45 cm30 cmworkable
Garlic chivesAllium tuberosumHerbStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade20–30 cm20 cmwell suited
HyssopHyssopus officinalisHerbStraightforwardFull sun40–50 cm25 cmwell suited
LavenderLavandula angustifoliaOrnamentalSome care neededFull sun45–90 cm25 cmwell suited
Lemon balmMelissa officinalisHerbStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade, Dappled shade45–60 cm25 cmwell suited
Lemon thymeThymus citriodorusHerbSome care neededFull sun30–40 cm20 cmwell suited
Lemon verbenaAloysia citrodoraHerbDemandingFull sun100–150 cm35 cmwell suited
LemongrassCymbopogon citratusHerbSome care neededFull sun—25 cmwell suited
LovageLevisticum officinaleHerbStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade60–90 cm60 cmmarginal
MarjoramOriganum majoranaHerbStraightforwardFull sun20–30 cm15 cmwell suited
MintMenthaHerbStraightforwardPartial shade, Full sun, Dappled shade30–45 cm20 cmwell suited
OreganoOriganum vulgareHerbStraightforwardFull sun30 cm20 cmwell suited
ParsleyPetroselinum crispumHerbSome care neededFull sun, Partial shade20–25 cm25 cmwell suited
RosemarySalvia rosmarinusHerbStraightforwardFull sun90 cm30 cmwell suited
SageSalvia officinalisHerbStraightforwardFull sun60 cm25 cmwell suited
Salad burnetSanguisorba minorHerbStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade30–40 cm25 cmwell suited
SavorySatureja hortensisHerbStraightforwardFull sun20–25 cm15 cmwell suited
ShisoPerilla frutescensHerbSome care neededFull sun, Partial shade30–40 cm25 cmwell suited
SorrelRumex acetosaHerbStraightforwardPartial shade, Full sun, Dappled shade30–38 cm25 cmwell suited
TarragonArtemisia dracunculusHerbSome care neededFull sun45–60 cm25 cmwell suited
Thai basilOcimum basilicum var. thyrsifloraHerbSome care neededFull sun25–30 cm20 cmwell suited
ThymeThymus vulgarisHerbStraightforwardFull sun30 cm15 cmwell suited
Vietnamese corianderPersicaria odorataHerbSome care neededPartial shade, Full sun30–40 cm20 cmwell suited
Winter savorySatureja montanaHerbStraightforwardFull sun30–40 cm25 cmwell suited

Ready-made lists from this group

Published only where the filter genuinely narrows the category — which for herbs it usually does not, because almost every herb tolerates almost every container.