growing herbs?

MrsMW

Has anyone grown garlic chives? I bought some seeds last year but could not get them to grow, I usually have green fingers but failed with these. The seeds were bought from a reputable place, my usual supplier, Netto, didn't sell them. LOL. I do use the green tops of garlic but fancied having these chives in the garden where the ordinary ones grow like weeds.

p3gg

Crikey Sarahsaver, I just skimread your post and thought you were giving us a recipe for escargots aux herbes!

Sarahsaver wrote:

What are snails like pal? Just read the river cottage book and thats the only thing i don't fancy.
In my garden - and its not big - I have these herbs:
chives
bay
thai basil
oregano
sage
thyme
lemon thyme
rosemary
mint (2 types)
I will probably do some parsley but I am not bad about that. Most of these are established plants, even the chives re-plant themselves!
I would say GROW GROW GROW as many as you can, make sure you put mint in a bucket unless you want it to grow everywhere.
Get seeds from poundland - even the 'fresh' herb plants from supermarkets are a huge rip off, and they have a sell buy date! How can you put a date on a supposedly living thing!
Herbs can then be either dried or frozen so you have a supply to last all year.

Sarahsaver

LOL i have the snails too!
I am planning two chickens (for the eggs - i will only eat them when they are totally knackered), and also squirrel traps and some means of bagging the big fat woodpigeons - free food is sitting in my garden and I want it! The herbs will go a treat with the pigeon;)

annie-c

Hello

I am trying to grow my own herbs on my kitchen windowsill. To start off with I have bought those ready grown pots that you get in the supermarket, and I keep them in the plastic pot, on a saucer and water them from the root like the instructions say, but I can't seem to keep them alive for very long - especially coriander.

Is it because they aren't meant to last long in those pots, or am I doing something wrong?

I want to start growing from seed and keep herbs in pots outside when the weather gets better, so I'd be gratful for any tips!!

Thanks. Annie.

squeaky

There are some threads listed under "Growing your own..." in the Food section of the MEGA Index that may help. The shortcut there is in the link.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=675328#post675328

pol

You have to be careful not to overwater these supermarket ones. They're only meant to last a week or so after you buy them. I did well last year by planting them outside in the summer, but at this time of year.......
If they're on your windowsill, keep them just moist, and don't let them get cold if it freezes. With the curtains shut, it's nearly as cold as outside!

HTh
pol

spalding

The supermarket ones tend to have a lot of plants in one pot thus causing them to not last long, what you need to do is split them into seperate pots I manged to keep basil and corrainder going all last summer by doing this

annie-c

Thanks for the advice!

Spalding - how do I go about splitting them, please? Could I just split each pot into about 4 lots and plant them into slightly bigger containers with more room? Does it matter how I handle them? The coriander in particular is very tangled and I think that's why it's dying.

CarolTheExtra

Hi Annie-c
I too are having the same trouble as you. I keep buying supermarket herbs and they die on me ever so quickly. I just cannot make out why as I have been successfully growing all my own bedding plants in our loft under some Velux windows for several years now. I will try splitting them up and see if this helps. You are not the only one with the problem! Lets hope that with the help of all the good people on here that we can find success.

spalding

Not very scientific sure someone will have a better way, but I shake as much earth off as possible and just seperate as best I can then I planted spreading out in a larger pot for the garden