What to do with big rosemary bush and overgrown mint patch

[d000hg]

Our house came with a small herb-garden (about 4foot square); I don't know what it held originally but it's now a mass of mint plants and a rosemary bush about the size of a Christmas tree - both totally out of control.

I've been told rosemary from a big plant isn't as good so I wondered what the best thing to do with it is, and when? Can it be cut right back to get fresh growth and kept in check size-wise? It's too damn big even if the quality were fine, we could feed our whole street lamb dinners for a week off it...

Also, should I allow rosemary and mint to flower?

[rustylady]

Hello d000hg - Welcome to the Vine. Do you have a name we can call you - I'll never get the hang of your username.

Whereabouts are you? If you add your location (nearest town) to your profile it will show up on your posts - helps with advice as local conditions vary so much.

Rosemary doesn't really take kindly to being cut back hard but in this case I think this is what you will have to do. I would take some cuttings before you start hacking, as a sort of insurance.

Mint is an invasive thug - for this reason I always plant mine in large pots. All you can do with yours is keep pulling up the bits that are where you don't want them.

I always let my rosemary flower (the bees love it), but pinch out the flower shoots on mint to keep it short and bushy. The rosemary from a big bush is every bit as good as that from a small bush. Just make sure you use the newer growth for cooking.

[d000hg]

I prefer to keep real name private, but most pronounce my handle as doooog or doug or doogie

I updated my profile a bit, but while we get cold winters and lots of frost/snow, the garden is a total sun-trap and very sheltered.

Thanks for the tips!

[taff]

You can use the wood you prune [if you do] for barbecues if you dry it out. Lovely smell and flavour.

[rustylady]

I prefer to keep real name private, but most pronounce my handle as doooog or doug or doogie

Fair enough - I never thought of calling you Doug, but that sounds reasonable

[d000hg]

Great idea. Sadly we don't have our wood-burning stove yet or that would be awesome too

[mothhawk]

Hi doogie - you can also use rosemary twigs stripped of their leaves as wooden barbecue skewers to add extra flavour. Rosemary is supposed to grow one foot of height for every year of Jesus' life, then die, which I guess really means it won't keep going forever, and once it gets too tall it will start to die back.

As RL says, take some cuttings and start some new bushes, and when they are well established, you can risk cutting back the original.

[d000hg]

Ha, the house is only 8 years old and I doubt the bush is more than 5 or 6, so it has 25 years left to grow

I think we'll strip a load and freeze it, then take a load of cuttings and give them away one morning at our church, and keep the branches for kebabs/BBQ.

The mint can be used quite quickly in mint juleps if we have a party for a late-summer BBQ with lamb marinaded in coriander, or lamb kebabs on coriander skewers!

[veggiechicken]

Don't bother to freeze rosemary, just hang it up to dry and strip the leaves off the twigs when dry.
And, before I forget my manners completely - Hello and welcome