Saturday, December 27, 2008

The herbs

A few days ago I received this email from one of my subscribers:

"I have been growing a few coriander seedlings and one pot thrived and the other curled up its leaves and died. I couldn't understand this so searched the web to see if I had done something wrong. What I found was that coriander doesn't like too much water and the one that died was fully out in the weather when we had had a good amount of rain. The other was sheltered. I guess I drowned the poor wee things! Oh well, I am starting off again. The extra pot was for a friend, so now they will just have to wait another few weeks before the new seeds get going!

All part of learning to grow herbs."


Patricia guessed/researched right. Too much water won't do any good to most of the herbs. There's a general rule for most of the herbs we grow at home:
  • they like a sunny spot, 
  • soil that's not too rich and 
  • they prefer to be on the dry side.

When growing herbs in planters, shelter them when possible and when sheltering isn't available, make sure the drainage is excellent.

Below is a very cute cartoon in two parts where popular herbs: parsley, basil, rosemary, bay leaf, dill and sage are very well represented through unique and entertaining characters.

Enjoy! :)

The Herbs - Parsley's Tail - Part 1/2




The Herbs - Parsley's Tail - Part 2/2






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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the excellent tips on herb growing. While I did not watch all the videos, the second one was particularly fun :)

Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

OMG that was very...weird.... Thanks for the laugh.

Anonymous said...

I have a hard time to load the video because the internet connection is so slow.. Anyway, thanks for sharing the tips about growing herbs..

The cartoons are really cute! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tips on growing herbs although not much of a green thumb, but have often thought of growing my own herbs.

Anonymous said...

I learned that herbs like to be on the dry side the hard way, too. My poor basil plants started out so full and pretty. Then the rain hit and there was nothing left of them.

Anonymous said...

I've always wanted to grow my own herbs- I've had such poor results with just regular plants I thought I may not be able to do it. I would love to have my own fresh herbs-perhaps in 09 as I'm committed to doing more cooking-

Sadie said...

And this is why I don't grow things... I kill everything! I even managed to kill bamboo one time - you know, that cute bamboo that people have potted in their house? Yeah, I killed it. *sigh* The only greenery in my house is a fake ficus.

Anonymous said...

I always forget to water, so herbs are such a great thing for me to grow!

Very cute video - I love 'Parsley' :)

Anonymous said...

That must be why Rosemary grows wild here in the Mohave Desert.

BarbaraRae said...

There is nothing like fresh grown herbs. Makes food taste great! Great tips and videos.

veinglory said...

I am terrible for drowning all my plants, even the hardy herbs :(

Daria's World - blog about people and things that matter the most

Daria's World - blog about people and things that matter the most
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