growing suitable herbs for chinese cooking

Raspberry_Swirl

angie_loves_veg wrote:

did you keep them in pots outside, or in the soil...... ?

if they were in pots, it sounds like they were either over watered, or (more likely) underwatered... (they wilt with underwatering)

if they were in the soil, they usually like poor soil (not too rich) with lots of drainage (or they can get waterlogged)....imagine them growing on a hot italian hillside....dreadful soil, but great drainage!

actually, I'm imagining being stranded on an italian hillside right now.........

:dance:

they were all in pots. thanks for the advice

Caroline2CV

angie_loves_veg wrote:

If you still have a stalk of lemon grass, you can try what I have done before.

Did the your stalks of lemon grass have any weeny knobbly bits at their base before you put them in water? I have been checking my local supermarkets for these as I'm sure I read they are OK to pot up.

Caroline2CV

Carolbee - Check over fresh ginger root for weeny kobs (pale yellow)just ready to start growth. I found some & put them in a clear plastic tumbler (so I can monitor the shoots) near a warm spot in the kitchen. When I have a green shoot or too I'll have a go at potting them.

I recently saw a picture of a ginger plant and the flower is really pretty.

carolbee

bought a lemon grass last night and have put in water to shoot, worth a try, thanks for the tip re ginger Caroline 2CV, will try that too.

am going to try and buy some seeds locally, the P+P on some seeds via post is sometimes as much as the seed. We also have a seed exchange coming to our very new farmers market at the end of the month, so plan to go and have a look there too and do some swopping.

angie_loves_veg

there is a seed swap forum at https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk
(go to the grapevine, then to the seed swap)

you never know your luck, I recently swapped surplus runner seeds for broad beans

teapot2

Hi Carolbee,

I got a packet of Pak Choi seeds in a Woolies BOGOF and am going to try that as its delicious and great in Chinese cooking. Can be quite expensive to buy so worth a try I thought. Says its fast growing and you can also plant it closer together for baby leaves. Apparently likes a rich soil so I'll probably put it in a tub to try it. The seeds were 'Mr Fothergill's' and would have cost £1.70, has 175 seeds so that'll keep me going for a while!

Can also second what Angie said - thai basil is yum and very different. A friend gave me a packet of basil seeds last year with a number of different varieties in it so it was fun trying them all - some more successful than others but plenty of seeds to have another go this year.

angie_loves_veg

pak choi is, as you say, fast growing - keep them away from slugs/snails though as they find them very tasty!

it is worth 'successional sowing' this crop - plant some seeds, when they are showing through, and maybe an inch high, plant some more in another pot - this way, you will have a crop of them every couple of weeks or so..... yum

carolbee

just bought some lemongrass seeds, so will plant them tomorrow

been hunting in the garden centre for the thai basil, can only find as part of a set of other basil seeds. we have our first seed exchange at our new farmers market in a couple of weeks so will look there, never been to seed exchange before so dont really know what to expect.

not keen really on trying to buy one packet of seeds on line!

happy sowing all of you, now the snow has gone done here might play in the greenhouse tomorrow and mix up some compost for sowing for my window sill herbs I am going to do.

carolbee

Caroline2CV wrote:

Carolbee - Check over fresh ginger root for weeny kobs (pale yellow)just ready to start growth. I found some & put them in a clear plastic tumbler (so I can monitor the shoots) near a warm spot in the kitchen. When I have a green shoot or too I'll have a go at potting them.

I recently saw a picture of a ginger plant and the flower is really pretty.

as the risk of sounding daft - here goes - regarding the ginger, when you have some shoots on it, do you then split the new shoot from the old ginger root and grow it on, so that eventually the new root grows knobbly and you use that root for cooking?

angie_loves_veg

carolbee wrote:

just bought some lemongrass seeds, so will plant them tomorrow

been hunting in the garden centre for the thai basil, can only find as part of a set of other basil seeds. we have our first seed exchange at our new farmers market in a couple of weeks so will look there, never been to seed exchange before so dont really know what to expect.

not keen really on trying to buy one packet of seeds on line!

happy sowing all of you, now the snow has gone done here might play in the greenhouse tomorrow and mix up some compost for sowing for my window sill herbs I am going to do.

T&M do some thai basil (Siam Queen) seeds - I got a packet at Wyevale where they are currrently selling all T&M seeds at half price.