Herbs as landscaping

[countrygirl4513]

I saw an article in a TSC magazine about using herbs as landscaping. Has anyone tried this? If so what is the most hardy and pretty herbs that are safe for chickens too?

 

[meriruka]

How much area do you want to cover? I have a large herb garden with LOTS of different herbs, the chickens don't really eat the herbs, but they will dig them up. I'm sure the rule is, if you can eat it, so can they. Then again, my chickens eat , paint, styrofoam, caulk so maybe they are immune to something as innocuous as herbs. But belladonna, hemlock, etc are probably not a good idea. Richter's Herbs has about every herb on the planet I think they have descriptions of what is good for groundcover.

 

[Hencackle]

I have a comfrey plant in my garden. When DH took the garden fence down in the fall, the chickens attacked and ate that plant clean down to the ground! I'm curious to see if it will come back. However, they don't really bother my basil, oregano, or thyme.

Comfrey is great for bruises and sprains. I jammed a toe while exercising last summer and it swelled and turned purple. I made a comfrey poltice for my toe and the ugly discoloration was gone in a few days. Graceful people like me should always have a comfrey plant in their garden/landscape. :happy_flower

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

I think that Lavender is a good herb (but grows big) for landscaping. and as for the chickens, They'll love it!!! but i don't think they'll eat it all in one day

 

[beefy]

parsley is really pretty and evergreen here until the caterpillars hatch and eat it in the spring.

 

[digitS']

The only garden that the hens more-or-less have access to is a small herb garden. And, they really didn't like to go over there because it is behind the greenhouse and too near dogs in neighboring yards. They seemed to have left the mints, basil, oregano, thyme, and chives undamaged.

Flowering chives are really quite attractive and I've noticed them in plantings where it was obvious that they weren't being used for any culinary purposes. Many of the thymes are planted for ornamental purposes, of course, but there are some oregano cultivars with the looks you may be searching for.

I like Chicken_Boy's idea on lavender and really don't think the chickens will bother it unless there's nothing much else to distract them. Anything can get uprooted, however, during dust baths.

A larger ornamental, which I use regularly in my cups of herb tea, is agastache. There are about a dozen names for this herb including licorice mint and anise hyssop and there are many related plants including the monardas. These aren't the problem plants in the mint family but you need to know about the invasive nature of some of the mints and keep them contained.

This is a good starting point to learn about herbs as herbs.

Steve

 

[patandchickens]

Hencackle, I'd be shocked if your comfrey doesn't come back. I have a large area of comfrey in one of the horse pastures that gets grazed to the rootline every time the horses are rotated through there, and it comes back strong as ever.

Indeed I think a certain amount of regular heavy grazing is probably a good thing if you have comfrey, since at least where I live it has an inconvenient habit of seeding itself everywhere with abandon, and nice as it is I do not actually want to live on 19 acres of solid wall to wall comfrey


Pat

 

[Hencackle]

patandchickens--thanks for the comfrey info. I'll keep those flower stalks cut!

 

[Presto]

Hello I'm New to Gardens & Chickens! I am very interested in growing Lavender. Is it difficult to grow? parts of my yard gets full sun, Alot of shade, & partial sun/shade. I still have to build my coop too. feeeewwww.
thanks.
Lori

 

[Reinbeau]

Where are you located? Lavender isn't hard to grow in the right conditions. It likes a sweet, somewhat sandy soil, well drained, full sun, and good air circulation. It's hardy to zone 6, although if your winters are harsh one year you'll lose them all (there is one that's supposedly hardy to zone 5, Arp, but it's never made it through the winter here for me in zone 6a).