Not culinary but if you’re looking for flowers can I suggest mints more prettier cousins nepeta and salvia nemerosa
Comment on HAIL HYDRA!
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Fine, I will plant mint instead.
Actually considering mint for the front garden though. It’s a narrow strip of dirt surrounded on all sides by 10+ metres of paved land. Hopefully it would be less thirsty than using pots and tbh all that is growing in it currently is thorns.
sirico@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
But the entire point of growing something is to eat it. Or be useful in some way at least, considered bamboo for free canes but it sounds like it can damage concrete around it and even clumping bamboo would try and grow larger than the space I have fairly quickly due to the narrow width.
MintyAnt@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Growing food plants to eat, yes, the point is to eat.
Growing non food plants, the primary purpose is to support your ecosystem. Bugs pollinators birds etc. They rely on native plants only, and need them to survive.
Beyond that people also like the look of flowers and having them grow or thrive over time.
Good on you for not willfully growing something invasive or non native like bamboo (assuming it’s not in your native range)!
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
The impression I get is some types of bamboo can grow non invasively, though not native either. But would need more space to grow and may not be a great yield in the first place grown in the UK.
Helping bees is always a bonus, in my back garden I have chives and sage that both get quite a bit of attention from the bees. Also growing thyme and rosemary but they don’t seem to care for that. Poppy patch is also loved by bees, was hoping to use the poppy seeds for baking but don’t really get that much. Shitloads for growing more poppies but not very useful to eat.
When I planted the lawn (was previously concrete paved across the entire garden) I used a mix of meadow grass and clover, but the clover hasn’t really done much which is a shame. Don’t care for obsessively treated lawns, it’s a space to sit down. Not certain, maybe park grass would have been better? Don’t really know tbh, ideally want something that will grow deep roots and is never going to have artificial fertiliser or any other treatments because fuck that effort and money.
Probably never going to water it either, beyond maybe dumping not too filthy waste water on it if available. Currently got 300L combined of rainwater storage, but that is reserved for the plants I can eat.
BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
If you haven’t had bamboo before, can also spread unpredictably and it’s more difficult to get rid of than you expect. The varieties that tend to grow smaller are worse.
Seleni@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Actually it spreads very predictably (in either circles or a collection of straight lines) and if you want to get rid of it, just cut it to the ground and stumpgrind out the rhizomes, which are the only part that can spread the plant (and for most species are found in the top 12 inches of soil). If someone tells you that you need to get out every tiny root, they’re bullshitting you.
Seleni@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It would probably need a fair bit of water, too, unless you’re in a more humid climate with summer rains. It is a grass after all.
Unless you planted a tropical clumper, the concrete wouldn’t take damage. A runner would probably pass under it and show up on the other side eventually though. You can stop that by cutting the rhizomes back in summer and fall (think of it like edging a lawn), but it sounds like that space might be too narrow to set that sort of system up well.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Yeah, that is why I am thinking of planting mint there instead. Should come up with some ways to preserve large amounts of mint when I have it for when its dead over winter though. Mint jelly is an obvious one.
I think mint honey should have a decent shelf life too without requiring refrigeration. Probably isn’t that different from mint jelly but using honey as a source of sugar and it isn’t set with pectin, which shouldn’t really impact the shelf life. Use it like a sweet minty syrup.
MintyAnt@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You will plant native plants, you mean
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
I think spearmint is native to the UK. Also got rosemary, thyme, chives, sage.
mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
rosemary
have a few new and a few mature rosemary plants and wow, they flower and attract pollinators, they provide free rosemary for cooking and baking bread (HIGHLY RECOMMEND), they require very little love or attention and grow BIG if you let them.
+1 would plant again
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Mine haven’t flowered that much yet, but perhaps stress from transplanting them could be involved and they are still growing larger. Would be nice to see them flower as I have seen others that look quite nice when they do.
Will look into the bread, got sourdough starter so may use that.
DonPiano@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Mint’s a native plant.
MintyAnt@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Native means native to your area, so “mint” is a really broad plant. Whatever you get from the garden store is probably originally from Europe. But if you were like in New England and found Mountain Mint, then it’s probably native. So it depends - and only the actually native one is good for the environment.
IMALlama@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
We have a thin strip of mint that’s exactly what you described. Fresh mint all spring and summer is great for a variety of reasons, plus it smells good. That said, we’re constantly fighting runners trying to grow in every conceivable crevice. It tries to grow in the cement expansion joints and in the joint between our house and sidewalk by the door.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
The strip of land is a little distance from the house, tbh the thorns currently growing in it try and come up through the gaps in the concrete or snake their way through the gravel. At least mint doesn’t hurt.
IMALlama@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Sounds like a good place to plant some mint!
fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
That’s the only safe place to plant mint.
Haaveilija@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I just planted Mint into my computer
fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
How is your digital garden now?
Haaveilija@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Now there is Mint not just on my laptop but also my pc and three other laptops :D
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Now to work out how to eat it and ideally says of preserving it too. Mint jelly but it needs apples in season really. I guess an unset syrup should also have a long shelf life as it’s the sugar that preserves it.