Herbs?!?!

staceysteve

Ok I love fresh herbs but as you will see from my threads I am no gardener.
Which herbs are best indoors and which are best outdoors?
Also I have a coriander plant, it's on my kitchen windowsill gets plenty of light, but it doesn't seem to be doing well. I water it obviously and the instructiond said sparcely so I think I'm doing that - any tips to getting it thriving??

foxgloves

Even as a generally green fingered girl, I've struggled with coriander plants so for the last couple of years, I've grown it as a 'cut & come again' crop, like you would with cress or baby salad leaves. I sow it in big trays in our unheated greenhouse around March, I don't bother thinning it, but just cut a small bunch as & when I need it. If you don't razor it down to a stubble of stalks, it will grow again to allow another 2 or 3 crops. When I've taken the first crop, that's when I sow the next tray. I find that way, it keeps me going for the whole of summer into autumn. It needs to be kept damp but not waterlogged. If it gets too hot, it bolts, runs to seed and that's it, plant over! Good luck.

jollyanna

Is the coriander a "growing herb" as sold in supermarkets ? If it is, I find that they seem to get exhausted and a mass of compacted roots sees them fail to thrive . You could try potting it on to the next size and see if it helps.

foxgloves

I grow coriander in the greenhouse (unheated) as well as basil but all my other herbs are grown outside either in pots or borders. The more tender ones, such as tarragon are brought into the greenhouse overwinter just to keep the frost off them.

Red_Cat

I find that the supermarket fresh herb pots don't last for me, they end up dying. Last year I gre basil and coriander from seed, and they were much more successful, both indoors (windowsill) and outdoors in Summer.

staceysteve

Ah thanks - the real novice that I am grabbed one from Sainsbury's. I will try re potting it and failing that grow from the seed.
I'd like to grow Rosemary, Thyme, Tarragon (maybe), Chives, Sage (maybe)
Wouldn't mind doing Rocket?

jollyanna

Rocket is bliss to grow and lovely to nibble on when you're outside looking at your stuff. Mine always shoots up to flower quite soon but I understand the flowers are edible and being so pretty would look fab on your plate.

choille

Rosemary goes well from a cutting, but not at this time of year - try in the Spring - although Autumn maybe better, or buy a plant. It makes an easy shrub & pleasant with nice blue flowers. Supermarket potted herbs always die on me too - don't worry about it. Chives are dead easy - if you know someone who has a patch that needs dividing in the Spring beg some off them or plant seeds.
Thyme - I have a lovely creeeping one that puts down little roots as it creeps along - easy to uproot & give away surplus or plant seeds - my creeping one is called Lorna Doone & must be dash hardy as it's been under ice for a month & is fine now it's thawed. If you know anyone who gardens scrounge bits & bobs off them in the Spring if you can. Or buy from a good garden centre plants or seeds.

rosie383

I am really keen to grow coriander in the kitchen. It is the herb we would use the most as DH loves it, being a Mediterranean lad, but I can't get it to do well at all.
Why won't herbs grown on the sunny kitchen windowsill do ok? I got some coriander sewn in the garden last year, but it wasn't vigorous like the parsley (it was a wee pot bought as a Whoopsie for 10p, stuck in the garden, and it is like a mini bush, which survived all the snow sitting on it for weeks!!!).
Is there a best time of year to grow coriander? I had thought it would do OK even in winter indoors, but out of a whole window box sewn, I got 2 wee skinny straggly bits!
Also, I had a lovely big pot of mint which hasn't survived the snow outdoors. If I leave it, will it revive?
I also got quite a few of those herb mats, I think they are called that, from a car boot, which had something like 5 packs of seeds for a pound. Should I wait until it's warmer to grow them?

sunshine6650

I have 4 herb mats, was thinking about doing mine today.says jan-dec, & keeping them on windowsil, only prob i have small kitchen & can get quite warm. Im bit keen to get going now!!!

midnightraven3

if you plant them in a warm environment, they will grow too quickly and get leggy
you then have weak plants

last year i made the mistake of doing this, with EVERYTHING, for my 1st crop
when it came time, WEEKS later to plant my 2nd crop i found they both grew at roughly the same rate but the 2nd crop were much stronger plants