
Herbs · Perennial
Lemon balm
Lamiaceae
At a glance
- Plant spacing
- 40 cm
- USDA zones
- 4a–10a
- Frost-sensitive
- no
- Growth duration
- 8 weeks
Which beds suit?
- Sun (prefers)
- partial shadeAlso okay:full sunshade
- Soil (prefers)
- loamyAlso okay:raised-bed mix
- Drainage (prefers)
- normal
Seed & start
Perennial
Plant once, returns every year.
Stachi's tip
Lemon balm is perennial and self-seeds happily. Classic tea herb, attracts bees. Part-shade is fine. Cut back before flowering — afterwards it goes woody and flavour fades.
The plant's year: sowing, transplanting, harvest
Sowing
Transplanting
Harvest
Good neighbours
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Avoid these neighbours
No known conflicts.
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Good pre-cultures
Stachi has no specific pre-cultures recorded.
Sources
- LLM-Baseline+gpt-5-review
- LLM-Baseline-Intercrop
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage
- LfL Bayern – Zitronenmelisse (Anbauempfehlung P 20116) (https://www.lfl.bayern.de/mam/cms07/publikationen/daten/merkblaetter/p_20116.pdf)
- LfL Bayern – Schaugarten der Heil- und Gewürzpflanzen am Baumannshof (Melisse) (https://www.lfl.bayern.de/mam/cms07/publikationen/daten/merkblaetter/lfl-merkblatt_schaugarten.pdf)
- LWG Bayern (Bayerische Gartenakademie) – Kräuter zum Frischverzehr (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/gartenakademie/gartendokumente/infoschriften/157754/index.php)
Where these figures come from
- Timing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Spacing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Companion planting
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
- Crop rotation
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
- Yield
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Sources: LLM-Baseline+gpt-5-review · LLM-Baseline-Intercrop · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage · LfL Bayern – Zitronenmelisse (Anbauempfehlung P 20116) (https://www.lfl.bayern.de/mam/cms07/publikationen/daten/merkblaetter/p_20116.pdf) · LfL Bayern – Schaugarten der Heil- und Gewürzpflanzen am Baumannshof (Melisse) (https://www.lfl.bayern.de/mam/cms07/publikationen/daten/merkblaetter/lfl-merkblatt_schaugarten.pdf) · LWG Bayern (Bayerische Gartenakademie) – Kräuter zum Frischverzehr (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/gartenakademie/gartendokumente/infoschriften/157754/index.php)
Related plants
Products mentioned in this post
- Plantura organic tomato seed set (10 varieties)Open-pollinated, good germination — robust for raised beds.
- Organic tomato seed set, 14 varieties
- Organic heirloom tomato seed set (Demeter, 12 varieties)
- Organic vegetable seed set, 10 varietiesCucumber, tomato, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, chard & more.