The herbs project has gone down like a lead balloon!

Greeting Fellow Forum Friends...

Without going into much detail, our herbs garden can be summed up in one word - disaster!

My wife and I are serious cooking enthusiasts and are reliant on our herbs to bring that 'touch' to our artisitic creations. Sadly though, the herbs, which grace our balcony are not playing ball and if you were to witness the sorry plight for yourselves, you'd nod in agreement.

We use:

Coriander - dying/brown
Rosemary - not looking very health at all
Thyme - dried off
Basil - flowered, is that normal?
Flat-leaf parsley - dried... yuk!
Sage - dead, dry as a bone and flowered when still alive (again, is flowering normal?)

Since we move the strawberries (before was not too bad), they've not produced fruit.

The following points may give you some clues to suggest where we've gone wrong.

1. We have only used compost in 10kg bags and not the expensive stuff either. We use some sort of plant food (manure I think), which resembles bits of shell or bone or something of that nature, which is sprinkled on top of the compost.

2. We`ve watered the herbs once a day in the evenings. Does water played a role in this perhaps? Plants may react to hard or soft water.

3. We've used no pesticides of any sort. Therefore, I suspect pests (if any) have played a role in their deterioration, but have not actually seen anything walking round the stems. Perhaps they hide when we come to inspect the plants :cnfs: . Incidentally, I've read in a German country life magazine (Landlust - excellent :thmb that there are measures to protect such plants (in the article they mention chilli and pepper plants) against lice, which is a mixture of 30-50g of soap in 1 litre of warm water and 50ml of spiritus.

Rather than go on and on at this stage, perhaps you would be so kind and throw some really useful pointers into the debate going on the information I've already provided?

Starting again is perhaps too late as we're now in the middle of July. The terminology "from seed to spring", which I've read in another post in this forum sounds like a good proposition for next year. For now though, we have to focus on having at least some herbs (even if bought at the supermarket (or garden centre), planted and they stay alive) so we're not having to struggle by picking poor produce.

Open to the Forum.

With sincere regards,

V_B 0)

 

Perhaps you could post some pictures VB and then we could see exactly what the problems are. For starters:

Corriander is an annual and perhaps has just come to the end of it's very short life. You have to keep sowing it for a continuous supply.

Rosemary, thyme and sage are all perrennial shrubs and easy so pictures would be useful.

Basil does flower and is another annual and not at all hardy. I only grow it inside.

Parsley is pretty easy too and a biennial, again a picture would help.

 

@ Redwing. Many thanks for your reply. I'll put something by way of images in this thread as soon as possible.

Sincere regards,

V_B

 

In hot weather, plants in pots will often need watering more than once a day. Especially while they are very young. Was the compost retaining moisture? I test this by sticking my finger into the soil. It can look moist on the surface but be dry as a bone inside.

 

I would also suggest lack of water and perhaps poor drainage, but as said before pics are always helpful.


And I personally would never feed herbs as I feel it does spoil the flavour-but let's get them healthy first before we worry about that.


The feed sounds like Fish Blood and bone.

 

Greetings Forum Friends,

find attached the images as promised (I hope I've uploaded correctly). Apologies for them not being crystal clear. A quick intro as to what each contains as follows:

Image 039 - Rosemary, sage and basil.
Image 040 - Flat parsley and lovage.
Image 041 - Basil.
Image 042 - Strawberries.

There was another pot containing herbs but I disposed of its contents the other day to see what was in the bottom. Small pebbles (approx. 5cm deep) were poured in to assist in drainage. Whether too much or too few I'll let you decide.

In terms of sun (when the sun's out that is), the balcony gets direct sunlight in the early afternoons for a few hours, which I would have thought is sufficient.

The Basil in 041 was bought last week, but then decided not to plant until I got some advice. Judging by the plant's current condition, we've wasted our money, I guess.

Curiously though, other plants like the tomato, chilli and pepper plants seem to be coping quite well. They're in like a sqaure, plastic mould-type basket jobbie, which sit quite snugly in a home-made wooden trough.

To put a summary on these unfortunate mishaps, this has been our second summer where we've tried to grow our own. If my memory serves me right, last year wasn't exactly a harvest to remember either. Sadly, we've been keeping the local supermarket and the Asian shop in business with our regular trips to compensate for our lack of own produce.

Judging by all your replies, it could be a number of things, so I suspect I'll have to do some testing and adjusting by the looks of it. That obviously depends of your recommendations. I would certainly welcome a nice simple to-do list for next year as well as what remains of this summer, too.

Open to the Forum and sincere thanks in advance.

With sincere regards,

V_B 0)

 

Hi VB

Pic 1, rosemary, sage and basil. It looks like the only one still alive is the rosemary. I suggest you remove the dead plants and re pot the rosemary into a larger pot and keep it well watered. It might need it twice a day in hot dry weather.

Pic2 lovage and parsley. I would forget about trying to grow lovage in a pot. It gets really big in a border and needs lots of space. Your balcony seems a bit constrained for it...no matter really as it's not that great a herb IMO. In this pot it looks as though the lovage has taken all the moisture and killed the parsley. Remedy: get some new parsley and don't let it dry out. It likes to keeps it's roots moist and grow it in a bigish pot; larger than you think it needs.

Pic 3 basil. It looks like basil usually looks. Keep pinching it out to use in the cooking and it will get more bushy. Another one that doesn't like drying out so keep it well watered. It is a real summer herb and will not last beyond the autumn, even inside.

Pic4, strawberry...looks ok but probably needs a bit more moisture. It's a perennial and will go on for a few years, getting better for a few years but they do need feeding to produce all that fruit.

An easy one you haven't got is marjoram. You mentioned thyme earlier. That should do well in a pot as well, although they can get leggy. Keep using the leaves and it will grow more bushy.

Hope that helps.

 

@ Redwing (and JWK) - Good morning to you. Now in the office eating Weetabix whilst sat at my desk..! :ywn:

Your advice all looks well above board. I'll get to work on the resurrecting process this evening if tiredness doesn't take over, of course. :ywn:

I foresee a risk with the removal of the dead herbs to save the rosemary as I might chop off some roots. Is that an issue?

As for the basil, if I keep on pinching it out as you mention, I'll have none left. :hehe: Would you suggest I buy more basil plants so I have a steady supply?

Incidentally, lovage (German: maggi-kraut) is a very popular herb with "ze Germans" so I may have an up-hill battle with 'er indoors to get rid. Majoran? We have a ready supply in the kitchen cupboard (in a jar). No harm asking the better 'arf for her opinion as she's more likely to use it that I.

What about coriander, do you have any tips as our local Asian shop keeps a good supply of fresh in her large fridge? We're both fans of this herb, especially me as I use it alot in my indian cooking. Something on the balcony would be nice.

Right, that'll do for now. Not much sleep last night :ywn: and with temperatures expected in the late 20s today, I'm in for a long, long day. :(

I hope you enjoy yours.

Regards,

V_B

 

If you are worried about damaging the roots of the rosemary, just cut the dead plants away with secateurs, repot and it should thrive.

Basil: keep pinching it out to use and......get another one. :wink: Isn't it just the best herb with tomatoes!

Corriander: Shiney is right about the quantity you need. Successive sowings, say every two weeks are needed if you use a lot. But it's fun to grow as it's so quick from sowing to eating.

Fresh marjoram is so much better than the dried....there is really no comparison.

 

Greetings Fellow Forum Friends,

the story so far...

all herbs, which were dry and therefore 'has-beens' were removed.

Instead of using what remained of our cheap compost, I had an and drove up the road to a field where strawberries and sunflowers are growing and helped myself to soil, which was enough to fill two large balcony pots. This dastardly deed was carried out after dark, in the middle of a storm (:dh so at least I had the lightning from afar to give me some much-needed lux to complete my mission. :wink:

The next day, the two basil plants were planted, which I wasn't too sure about at first as one plant had creepy-crawlies (i.e. something resembling little centipedes) running in and around the roots as I removed it from the plastic pot. Any ideas on that one?

All remaining herbs have been well watered since receiving your tips. The flat-leaf parsley appears to have picked up somewhat.

I'm contemplating whether to buy some more herbs while we've still got summer (well... if that's what it's called, not that I'm complaining as the heat over here doesn't flick my switch) so comments are welcome from you. Otherwise, the seed-to-spring method for next year is something worth looking at. Again, comments and tips are most welcome. All have a great weekend!

Yours Aye,

V_B 0)

 

Very British

I admire your determination to grow herbs to support your other interest of cooking. I've known a couple of other keen cooks who have taken up gardening for the same reason and they also found growing herbs in pots not quite as easy as some cooking magazines suggest.

Here's a few tips:

1 Most herbs need as much sunlight as they can get. Exceptions are parsley and mint which prefer a shadier and damper environment.

2 I always mix the compost with at least 25% vermiculite when I plant anything in a pot. The plants' roots love vermiculite which is an inert substance that helps to aerate the compost and herbs are no exception. I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend using ordinary soil in pots so your midnight raid might not be as good an idea as you hoped. Unsterilised soil has a tendency to compact badly in pots and go sour.

3 Some herbs are quite difficult to grow satisfactorily in pots. Rosemary, for example, is a big, scruffy plant in the wild and resents restriction in a pot. Don't be surprised if your rosemary appears to deteriorate quite quickly from the lush looking specimen that you bought in a garden centre or wherever. They're grown under glass and given a big nitrogen boost prior to sale.

4 If all else fails, buy living supermarket herbs and split them up and repot them when you get home. I've done this for a few years now and they usually last for 2-3 months which is not bad because they're productive for all that time.

Good luck.