[QUOTE=SueCT;698162]Well it is really easy to determine. pick a leaf and taste it. Or bring one to garden center and let them smell it. I can tell oregano by the smell. They should be able to also, if you don't know what it smells like.[/QUOTE]


Sue, this is confusing as it looks like oregano but tastes weird. Now I remember planting oregano in that spot. The taste was soapy to me, not something to shake on a slice of pizza.

When purchasing an oregano plant , this is a good technique. I bought oregano thinking it could be used for tomato sauce, but this was a very weak variety.

Greek oregano is what I grow or buy now. It smells like Ray's Pizza in New York.

I also have a perennial varigated oregano that I use as a border plant. Not a tasty leaf either.

- Lisa

I've grown peppers near oregano (but not in the same bed) and I thought it was a happy combo. The oregano is just the right height to create a little windbreak for the peppers, and it hosts beneficials too.
But oregano is not what I'd call a light feeding companion... it doesn't spread by runners but the roots will fan out and dig deep, and will end up exploiting the ferts you put for peppers. What I did was to dig out a part of the oregano roots, leaving a trench which I then filled with bigger rocks, and made my bed and pepper row on the other side of the rocks. That worked fine for me, and maybe 3? I think, years later, the oregano is still nicely contained as a hedge and is not invading the vegetable beds. So if I were you I 'd use something to wall it off from your veggies below ground.

[QUOTE=bower;698290]I've grown peppers near oregano (but not in the same bed) and I thought it was a happy combo. The oregano is just the right height to create a little windbreak for the peppers, and it hosts beneficials too.
But oregano is not what I'd call a light feeding companion... it doesn't spread by runners but the roots will fan out and dig deep, and will end up exploiting the ferts you put for peppers. What I did was to dig out a part of the oregano roots, leaving a trench which I then filled with bigger rocks, and made my bed and pepper row on the other side of the rocks. That worked fine for me, and maybe 3? I think, years later, the oregano is still nicely contained as a hedge and is not invading the vegetable beds. So if I were you I 'd use something to wall it off from your veggies below ground.[/QUOTE

Good to know! It's hard to see in the photo, but that landscape timber area is no more than 4X4. Maybe a cucumber instead with lots of 10-10-10, or park a pot there.

- Lisa