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 20 hours 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 10 hours ago
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 10 hours 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 hours 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 3 minutes 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 4 hours 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.
MintyAnt@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
You will plant native plants, you mean
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 18 hours ago
I think spearmint is native to the UK. Also got rosemary, thyme, chives, sage.
mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 7 hours 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
DonPiano@feddit.org 18 hours ago
Mint’s a native plant.
MintyAnt@lemmy.world 3 hours 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.
fossilesque@mander.xyz 20 hours ago
That’s the only safe place to plant mint.
Haaveilija@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
I just planted Mint into my computer
fossilesque@mander.xyz 20 hours ago
How is your digital garden now?
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 20 hours 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.