potted herb garden as christmas pressie

beccatt

Not sure if this should be on the DIY and home thread but here goes..
I would love to make a windowsill herb garden for my Mum for Christmas, but I'm not sure if this is the right time of year to be germinating and planting seeds? Does it make any difference if I'm doing it indoors?
Anyone had any experience of this?

I'm also planning to force some Amaryllis and Paperwhite daffodil bulbs for her in the hope that they will bloom sometime around Christmas. If anyone else is interested, http://www.theplantexpert.com/springbulbs/Forcing.html has lots of info about this. Amaryllis and paperwhites are easiest and quickest to do as they don't need chilling for months first.

Thanks in advance
Rebecca

Pink.

Hi beccat,

I'm afraid I can't help with your question about germanating and planting seeds at this time of year as I've never tried it, but I'm sure someone will come along soon who can help.

Here are a couple of older threads that have some helpful tips on growing herbs on the window sill:

growing herbs

Herb garden (box)

Pink

blue-kat

I think you'd be very lucky to germinate seeds this time of year, and young herbs would be too tender to be put outside, or indeed they are herbaceous.
Mother's Day might be better time of year of outdoor herb planting.

how about gettingmaking an indoor herb plant pot for her instead?
get couple of supermarket herbs and plant them together in compost, but they can be a bit hit and miss.

garden centre herbs might be a better bet, I'd suggest going for hardier herbs such as rosemary, thyme, parsley and erm...can't remember ! sorry !
sage looks lovely, but mine is dying back ATM, and it's blooming cold out there tonight, the fennel is dying back wonderfully )

if you plant mint, don't forget to put it in sunken bucket to restrict the roots or else it will take over !

see http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg/module7/the_herb_garden.shtml

and

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/herb_planner.asp

HTH
good luck:o)
-
Katya