growing herbs in window boxes ?

C

coleen

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I would like to grow some herbs to use for cooking. I am thinking of chives rosemary , lemon balm for use in soups stews salads. Will these grow ok in window boxes ? Is there others that are easy to grow? Anyone have advice on how to go about this? When is the best time for planting ?
 
I got Chives and Parsley (and they had others) in Lidl last week, 3.49 each for the pot (nice pot) and the seeds.
 
I picked up basil and coriander in Lidl too, the pots are lovely, and they are doing very well.

Do you have any outdoor space? Rosemary and lemon balm will take off, and really need a pot of their own. Mint also easy to grow (definitely needs its own pot). I have never managed to grow parsely, but am not too bothered, as only witches can grow it!
 
Mint is quite aggressive and needs to be potted on it's own to stop it overtaking. Don't forget as the available soil is quite limited that feed and water are very important.
 
thanks I will google but was looking for personal recommendations just like above. I will try mint also. I have plenty of ground but I was thinking of pots so as to save on weeding.
 
I read something in the paper today saying that if you want shop bought basil to survive you should repot it after you buy it - must try that as I always have a problem with it dying, same for coriander I just can't get it to thrive. Oregano, Sage and Thyme are growing like weeds at the mo. With Parsley you have to watch out for slugs.
 
SarahMc said:
I have never managed to grow parsely, but am not too bothered, as only witches can grow it!
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Yikes, I must be witchey so!!! Took me a few attempts but when you get parsley growing it grows like mad - needs a lot of water.
Basil is my favourite, grew 3 pots of it last year and made lovely pesto.

For advice on how to go about it, I planted seeds into small pots, put them in a dark warm place (my hot press), covered with plastic bags, til they germinated and then brought them out into a well lit window - try to avoid direct sunlight but good light is imperative, and they took off. I also grew oregano, sage and mint, but basil was my firm favourite.
 

I always seem to get loads of greenfly when I grow oregano/basil from seeds indoors. Whats the best way to get rid or prevent greenfly without commerical sprays ? I usually just wash them off but they tend to put me off my pesto !
 
Teabag - Ive never gotten any greenfly indoors, do you have other plants nearby that it might be on and migrating to your Basil? Or are you leaving the window open that the Basil is on the windowledge of? I keep mine on a window ledge of a window I dont tend to open.

About overwatering - I use pots with holes punched in the bottom and sit them on saucers, when you water it allows the water to drain off and not rot the roots.
 
I bought a few potted herbs from Dunnes / Lidl that were on my kitchen window dying... a couple of weeks ago I got an old window box, filled it with compost and put the plants in. I water when I think of it, they're in a sunny spot and now I have a window box full of herbs. Even a basil plant that I thought was a complete loss seems to have resprouted. I've since pulled out any left over dead bits and it all seems to be thriving. As it's on the kitchen window sill it's no problem to open the window and take a handful of something while cooking so now fresh herbs are in everything I cook!
 
I will try mint also. I have plenty of ground but I was thinking of pots so as to save on weeding.
Click to expand...

Think of pots because Mint will take over your garden, not for weeding purposes trust me put it into the ground and you'll never rid yourself of it !
 
With the fresh growing pots of herbs in Tesco/Dunnes, who grows them and how do they manage to get them to such a high quality? Are they grown indoors with artificial light in special soil ? I can never manage to get such a flush level of high quality growth when I grow herbs like Basil and Oregano in the window box. I was wondering what growing techniques the supermarket supplied herbs undergo.
 
Hi,

I included this on another post. I grow about 6 Herbs, and found the following site of use for growing small amounts on balconies.

[broken link removed]
 
I dont think they grow great in those window box type things, they are just too small.

Rosemary, thyme, sage, chives are easy enough to grow.

My Rosemary is about 3 foot now and I use it in everything.

Funny enough, mint, parsely and coriander were not successful for me.

Cant beat having fresh herbs to cook with.
 
Particularly surprised at the parsley MandaC - ours just grows like grass.

Do you know what went wrong?
 
Hi Coleen - I'm a fan of container gardening and I find that giving each herb it's own pot yields a healthier plant with a decent crop. I have chives, lemon balm, mint, bay, parsley, corriander and salad leaves. You will get a crop in a window box, but it will be small.
The other thing that you need to be aware of is the importance of using the correct soil. Don't use Peat or Peat Based. Peat soils are bad for a number of reasons -
1) Bad for the environment.
2) It's slightly acidic (most plants like alkaline apart from heather etc).
3) It has no nutrients.
4) It dries out very quickly and becomes dust-like.
5) Once it dries out, the top layer will become capped - and this is almost impossible to re-wet.

The best type of soils to use are loam-based.
If you are growing from seed, in spring time, use "John Innes No 1" (It's low nutrient, idea for seeds).
John Innes Type 2 for potting on and
John Innes type 3 for transplanting.
(NOTE - don't buy a compost with Added John Innes - it's not the same).

When my plants have come on a bit, i usually repot in my mix of 50:50 John Innes type 2 with a Peat Free compost. Also, you can buy farmyard manure in Woddies. If you have some old compost left over from last year, you can add this to improve it and it also adds a good balance of nutrients.
Happy gardening.
 
I've lots of different herbs growing in pots outside - chives, parsley (curley & flat), mint, oregano are thriving.

But the Coriander has bolited (premature flowering and seeding) (by googling I know this happens due to excess exposure to water...I wonder how that happened) (similar has happened to the dill - but I never really found much use for it)

Will ithe Coriander come back and grow more leaves (I'm not really interested in the seeds) - or should just I start afresh?
 
Coriander is tough enough - unless there are any signs of disease/rot etc, a flowering/seeding plant should come back no problem.

Dill by the way is great for using when pickling and is very good with fish.
 
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