Lavender and lemon balm sounds like a nice combo—I might have to try that next year. I've had decent luck pairing rosemary with thyme, too. They both seem pretty hardy and the scent is subtle but really pleasant.
"Mint though... yeah, learned my lesson there too! It smells amazing but seriously takes over everything if you're not careful."
Haha, same here. Mint completely took over my raised bed last summer...lesson learned. Has anyone tried growing chamomile outdoors? Curious if it's easy to manage or if it spreads like mint does.
Chamomile's pretty chill in my experience. I've had it outdoors for a couple seasons now, and it's nowhere near as aggressive as mint. It tends to stay put and just spreads gently—nothing invasive. Actually, I wish mine would spread a little more, haha. One thing though: it self-seeds pretty easily, so you'll probably find random chamomile plants popping up here and there next spring. But they're easy enough to pull out if they're somewhere you don't want them.
Also, totally relate on the mint fiasco...I made the mistake of planting mint directly into my garden bed a few years back, and it took me forever to get it under control again. Now I stick it strictly in pots—lesson learned for sure.
"Chamomile's pretty chill in my experience. I've had it outdoors for a couple seasons now, and it's nowhere near as aggressive as mint."
Totally agree on chamomile being manageable compared to mint. A few things I've noticed from my own experience:
- Chamomile does indeed self-seed quite a bit, but the seedlings are super easy to spot and pull out if they're somewhere inconvenient. Unlike mint, they don't send runners underground, so you're not chasing roots all over the garden bed.
- One tip: if you want your chamomile to spread a bit more, try lightly disturbing the soil around the plant in early spring. This seems to encourage more seedlings to pop up nearby without becoming overwhelming.
- Mint is a whole different beast, though. I made the same rookie mistake of planting mint directly into a raised bed during my first year gardening...huge regret. It took multiple seasons of diligent weeding and root removal before I finally got it under control again. Now I keep mint strictly container-bound, and even then I keep an eye on any sneaky stems trying to escape through drainage holes.
- Another herb to watch out for is lemon balm—it's in the mint family and can become invasive too if you're not careful. Learned that one the hard way as well.
Overall, chamomile is definitely one of the friendlier herbs to have around. Plus, nothing beats freshly harvested chamomile tea after a long day of yard work...
Chamomile's definitely easier to handle, but honestly, mint isn't all bad if you keep it contained. I planted mine in an old whiskey barrel—thought I was being smart—but it still somehow found a way out through the bottom drainage hole. Gotta give mint credit for determination, lol. Chamomile tea after working outside is seriously underrated though...so relaxing after wrestling stubborn mint roots all afternoon.
"I planted mine in an old whiskey barrel—thought I was being smart—but it still somehow found a way out through the bottom drainage hole."
Mint's persistence is impressive, isn't it? For future reference, lining the barrel with landscape fabric before planting can help prevent roots from escaping through drainage holes. It's not foolproof, but definitely slows mint down a bit...
