Herb help

MinnieSpender

Hi all - just after a bit of advice from the greenfingered among you.

I use a lot of herbs in my cooking and after several failed attempts at growing them from seed, I repotted one of those basil plants from Asda. It's absolutely thriving and is now about 12in tall and very bushy (made a great pesto from it at the weekend and new leaves are already sprouting from where I took the larger ones off!).

Has anybody else done this with other herbs, and what works well? I'm afraid I live in a flat and have to be content with being a plant-pot gardener.

Also (don't laugh!) I've found a bottle of Baby Bio at the back of my kitchen cupboard. Is it safe to use this on stuff that you're going to eat or should I leave well alone. It doesn't seem to need any help at the moment!

Thanks in advance.

olly300

I use to repot all supermarket growing herbs as I can't eat them fast enough and they seem to wilt quickly in the containers.

I also grow them on the window sill due to laziness and then not having a garden. Now it's due to slugs and snails.

I've tended to buy rosemary, basil, mint (for tea), chives, parsley and coriander and grow them on a window sill.

What I've learnt is put them in pots on their own as some like mint take over plus it's easier to give them the right amount of water.

Anyway I've found this website:
http://www.selfsufficientish.com/rosemary.htm

Which will give you more infor about growing conditions. Links to different herbs are on the side.

BTW I also grow herbs from seed but due to being impatient after moving house I tend to go to the supermarket to get plants to start me off with.

Zazen999

Hi.

You've done well to keep a shop bought herb - usually, beacuse they are grown to be eaten, they don't last.

I would say keep picking the leaves, and hope that it does indeed last for a long time.

Baby - bio - any food is good during the growing season, and their website says that it can be used on herbs - so you are in luck.

Moving on, if you want a fresh supply of herbs year round, buy a packet of seeds and sow 5 in a pot every month. Water in, and leave to sprout. Water when it looks dry [don't overwater, the fastest way to kill a plant esp house plant]; and pick regularly.

Then you pretty much get obsessed, grow more and more, get a garden, dig it up, plant loads of veg, get an allotment and become obsessed, and life is never the same!