How To Plant Herbs (Growing Culinary Herbs In Containers Series – Part 4)

Fertilizer For Herbs

Herbs need less nutrients than a lot of other plants but particularly pot grown herbs need some feeding. If you don't feed plants that are in containers for a long period they will go poor with small leaves and little growth. Plant food diluted to half the strength and/or longer feeding intervals will keep your herbs happy and healthy.

There is a wide range of fertilizers available. I prefer organic ones for herb growing. Liquid fertilizers that you add into the water might be the easiest to use.

 

How to recognize starving plants:

It always surprises me that people don't recognize when a plant is starving. I guess I am around plants too long so it becomes second nature to judge the state of a plant.

Here are some hints to recognize when you should start feeding at the latest:

*Yellowing foliage: the new leaves are pale and yellowish in colour

*Stunted growth: the plant grows slowly or not at all, the leaves are small

*Bare plants:the plants start to go bare at the base and lose foliage

 

Growing Herbs From Seed

If you like to cook with fresh herbs you more than likely need a good supply of them. Nothing is handier than to just go outside the door to harvest them fresh and full of flavour.

Once you are used to that you won't want to cook without ready access. Particularly if you need big quantities of certain herbs and a constant supply it is best to plant herbs from seed. Growing herbs from seeds is also the cheapest way to produce herb plants.

In general you can grow all types of herbs from seed but it might not always make sense. Growing Rosemary, Sage or Thyme might take a long time before you can harvest from them. You also need only a few plants to have enough supply. For these types of herbs it might be easier and quicker to buy an established plant in your local nursery. Other varieties like Parsley, Chives, Basil or Coriander are easily and quickly grown from seed.

The best and most successful way of growing herbs from seeds is to start them off in seed trays and pots in a greenhouse or poly-tunnel. But if you don't have a greenhouse you can also start them off on a window-sill or conservatory.

 

How To Plant Herbs From Seeds

For Growing Herbs From Seeds You Need:

* herb seeds

* seed compost

* seed trays

* sheet of glass to cover trays (optional)

* small plastic pots or peat pots

* watering can with a fine rose

1. Prepare the seed tray:

Fill the seed tray with the seed compost, level it and firm it lightly. Don't fill the tray up to the top. Leave about 1/4 inch from the top and water over it with the rose on the watering can.

2. Spread the seeds:

Pour the seeds onto the palm of your hand. Take some between thumb and index finger and sow them thinly and evenly onto the prepared seed tray. Try not to put them too close together.

3. Cover the seeds:

Put some fine seed compost into a plastic flower pot with holes in the bottom. Shake the compost evenly over the seeds. Bigger seeds need a thicker layer of compost than small seeds.

The rule of thumb is to cover them with three times the thickness of the seed. The seed packet will give you exact information on this. Some plants will need light for germination and need no covering. The same applies for very fine seed.

Water the tray with the fine rose on the watering can again.

4. Cover the tray

with a sheet of glass or clear plastic. This step eliminates watering, speeds up germination and keeps pests away. If you don't cover the tray you will have to water carefully and keep the soil evenly moist (but not wet). Once the seedlings emerge remove the glass. Place the tray in a shaded spot in the greenhouse or in your house. It is important to choose a place that is evenly warm and bright but not sunny.

5. Transplant the seedlings:

Once the seedlings have produced their second sets of leaves it is time to thin them out and transplant them into individual pots. Fill the pots with seed compost and poke a hole into it that is big enough for the roots. Loosen the soil in a corner of the tray and lift the seedlings out carefully. Insert the roots into the prepared hole, fill it up with compost and firm it carefully. Water well and don't forget to label your pots!

6. Harden them off before planting them out.

Grow your new herb plants on, until they are big enough to go into their final positions. You can either plant them into the ground or into pots, window-boxes, etc.

It is important to prepare your seedling for the life outside. The easiest way to do that is to move the plants into a cold frame that you leave uncovered during the day and covered over night for a period of two to three weeks. If you don't have a cold frame you can just put them outside the greenhouse for the day and bring them in again at night. Don't place them into full sun in the beginning.

7. Plant the herbs into their final position in the garden or into containers for your patio or window sill herb garden.