[ex-cavator]

I know, I know, I should be growing them myself, but as we use all sorts of different herbs in our cooking, and never seem to have the ones we want when we want them (besides, my plot is seven miles away  ) I always end up buying pots from the supermarket.

Anyway, my point is - how do you keep them alive. Or are they genetically programmed to die within seven days? Has anybody had any success in keeping them growing? 

[arugula]

I had two sowing failures this spring with Basil seeds so I ended up buying a plant and potting it up into a 12 inch pot. It has grown successfully. I know what you mean though, before I used to grow my own herbs, the times I've had a pot of supermarket coriander in its original pot on the windowsill expire after a few days..... 

[Ice]

It's a small matter of luck and buying a plant with moist compost which means it hasn't been on the shelf long enough to dry out.  Basil always does well for me and I can no longer be bothered to grow it from seed.

[JayG]

I'd be willing to bet they're not provided with enough soil or food to last far beyond their sell-by date, although for the past couple of years I have successfully transplanted supermarket parsley into the garden (can be hard to germinate - at least that's my excuse!)

Mostly they are severely overcrowded, probably half-starved and also light-deprived, so it's not that easy to keep them going!

[compostqueen]

I grow basil most of the year round in pots on the windowsill, sown quite generously into a 5" pot of multipurpose compo.  I love growing different varieties, none available from the supermarket 

[Ice]

My basil, if kept watered, lasts for two to three weeks.

[mumofstig]

I think they're all just sown too close together to last for long, anyway

I have better luck if I divide the pot into pieces and pot them up separately

[tosca100]

At the start of every year I buy a pot of parsley from the supermarket, use the growth, then split the seedlings into half a dozen pots and grow them on on window ledges till they can go into the greenhouse, planting them out in may. I always have plenty to use, freeze for winter and give away. I've done the same with mint and chives, which both come back year after year, The parsley will go to seed the following year.

Not bad for 79p!

[Yorkie]

Many of the herbs from supermarkets are grown very fast, meaning that they do not have the resilience for normal living.  I suspect that's the case with at least some of the ones you're buying.

[shokkyy]

I think it is luck too. In the past I've often had problems keeping shop bought pot herbs alive, but right now I've got 2 pots of basil on my windowsill that I bought more than 2 months ago. I don't know how on earth they're staying alive, because they're horribly overcrowded in small pots with very little compost, but they are. Every time I chop them down they just keep stubbornly growing back again. I actually wish they'd die, because I've got more basil in the greenhouse that I grew from seed. I only bought these to fill the gap until they grew. I haven't quite got the heart to chuck them out when they're putting up such a good fight for life