Windowsill herb garden

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Batesy

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Windowsill herb garden
« on: January 19, 2018, 11:59 »
Hi all,

I received one of those windowsill herb gardens for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. In a combination of excitement, haste and lack of knowledge I sowed all of the seeds that it came with at the same time. The result is that I now have lots of basil, curley parsley and chive seedlings that I think will need to be thinned out.

How many of each seedling should I leave in each pot? The pots are about 10cm wide and tall. And do I need to thin the chive seedlings as well? Or will one seedling simply grow into one 'blade of chive' for want of a better phrase?

My aim is to have a small herb garden that can be harvested little and often, and will last as long as possible before having to start again. Is this feasible?

As you can tell I'm new to this, so you can expect some potato-based questions soon as well.

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snowdrops

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2018, 15:03 »
The parsley & chives can be potted on in to small pots in small clumps & will be fine,each chive seedling will grow into a plant with more ‘chive’ leaves as it grows but not majorly. The basil seedlings will need thinning a bit more onto small pots, they will need more warmth than the other 2. Think about the pots of basil you buy at the supermarkets they are crammed into the pots,you pick them,they put on another push of leaves  & mostly then they die. Just occasionally they stay alive for much longer. They are a short lived plant unlike the chives, parsley on the other hand can survive from one summer to the next year before needing replacing as it will go to seed & flower if left in long enough.
Start looking up recipes for pesto for if your basil produces a huge crop.
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Goosegirl

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2018, 13:15 »
Herbs do well when they're regularly harvested as it encourages them to produce more leaves. If you nip off the stems from basil it will produce more side-stems therefore won't be as straggly and you'll get a better crop. All your seeds may not germinate so see what comes up and then thin out the seedlings so they're not all packed together or they may get something called damping-off which is a result of them not having enough air around them.
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Batesy

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2018, 09:10 »
Hi,
Thanks both for your replies. I have attached a photo. This is what the herbs look like two weeks after sowing the seeds, so I have no doubt that this is a good spot for them.

So should I leave the parsley and chives as they are, and just thin out the basil? If so, roughly how many seedlings should I leave in the pot? I intend to start trimming the basil once it has three sets of true leaves, by nipping off the stems to encourage bushy growth as Goosegirl suggests.
IMG-2123.JPG

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snowdrops

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2018, 09:38 »
Thin out all of them, perhaps 10 to that size pot.

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JayG

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2018, 11:07 »
The pot size leaves you somewhere in between the grossly overcrowded supermarket growing herb pots and having enough space for the plants to grow to their usual full size.

Best compromise is probably to thin the basil and parsley out as Snowdrops has suggested, but I'd leave the chives as they are (they naturally grow very close together and can be planted outside in spring if you want to start a permanent chive patch.)

They would all benefit from an occasional liquid feed, starting in a few weeks time.
Sow your seeds, plant your plants. What's the difference? A couple of weeks or more when answering possible queries!

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Batesy

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2018, 11:36 »
Thanks again for your replies - having a supermarket-style pot is something that I am trying to avoid as ideally I'd like the plants to last for quite a while. I'm willing to thin them out as much as needed - just didn't know how much. I will thin down to 10 per pot, leaving the chives as they are for now.

JayG can I use any liquid feed, or is there a specific one that I need for herbs?


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JayG

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2018, 11:44 »
Most of the powdered liquid feeds such as Miracle Grow and Phostrogen are quite high in nitrogen, which is ideal for leafy herbs such as these, but any old liquid feed would be better than nothing.

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Batesy

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #8 on: January 22, 2018, 11:46 »
Great, I'll keep my eye out and see what I can find in the next couple of weeks. Thanks again

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Batesy

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2018, 13:05 »
Hi again,

It's been a few weeks since I thinned out the Basil and parsley, and it appears to be growing well. Do I need to thin any further or is it okay to leave 10 of each in the pots? I want to avoid having an overcrowded pot - particularly with the Basil - as I intend to prune it regularly in order to keep it bushy.

Thanks for your help

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Goosegirl

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #10 on: February 14, 2018, 14:12 »
I'd see how they do in the next couple of weeks as there will be time to thin them out a bit more if needed.

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JayG

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #11 on: February 14, 2018, 15:55 »
I agree - hard to tell at this stage whether in terms of usable leaves you'll gain more from having more plants than you'll lose from them being a bit overcrowded which will restrict their growth...

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Batesy

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2018, 09:46 »
Thanks both for your helpful replies I will provide a photo update in the next week or two.

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Batesy

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Re: Windowsill herb garden
« Reply #13 on: March 05, 2018, 11:42 »
As promised here's a photo update. I can't help but think that maybe the Basil is starting to get a bit overcrowded. I haven't trimmed it yet, but as some plants have their third sets of true leaves I will start soon, but wondering if I should thin them out first?

Also I expected the chives to be thicker... is this normal or are they quite leggy? I noticed that they looked very sorry for themselves the other day but they appear to have perked up after a good watering.
IMG-2352.JPG
IMG-2352.JPG
« Last Edit: March 07, 2018, 09:41 by Batesy »



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