Culinary Herbs for Irish Gardens

What This Collection Brings to the Garden

Culinary herbs combine useful harvests with attractive foliage and flowers, with many thriving close to the kitchen in sunny beds, raised planters or containers.

Culinary herbs combine useful harvests with scent, flowers and pollinator value. They can be grown close to the kitchen in pots, raised beds or borders so fresh leaves are easy to pick while the plants remain part of the ornamental garden.

Why It Works in Irish Gardens

In Ireland, parsley, chives, mint and many other herbs cope well with the climate, while Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary and thyme need the sunniest, best-drained positions available. Containers are useful where soil stays wet through winter.

Choosing the Right Plants

Choose herbs according to how you cook as well as the conditions available. Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary and thyme prefer drier, sunnier ground, while parsley, chives and mint tolerate more moisture.

Planting and Care

Harvest little and often to encourage fresh growth. Avoid overfeeding woody Mediterranean herbs, and contain vigorous spreaders such as mint in pots where you do not want them to travel.