me being lazy= dodgy herbs

[Loobyloo]

Hi folks,

Time to admit that I am a bit lazy and due to my lazyness my herbs are looking particularly crappy.
Early in the spring I bought some small herb plants (catmint, lemon thyme, thyme, oregano, marjoram, chamomile and also sweet rocket) and planted them in a nice trough, I also planted out a small rosemary plant in a seperate container. For a few months they did really well and I was able to pick some to go in my cooking, the rocket was especially good and I had lots of salads as I had planted out 3 of them. As the weather got warmer the rocket and chamomile started to bolt and I may not have watered them often enough. They are now looking woeful, not as much greenery as you would expect and some of them are looking a little pale and speckled. I haven't picked any for a good 6 weeks or so mut nothing seems to be growing.

Is there anything I can do? Can I rescue them?

Help!

[sleepyowl]

A couple of those like drier sunnier conditions & seeing as theough the weather has sucked beyond belief this year some of mine are struggling

[Millymollymandy]

Rocket will go to seed eventually no matter how much water you give it so you need to successional sow all through the summer, rather like with coriander and radishes etc. I'd just pull them out if I were you.

The perennial herbs may well need more space for their roots as each one grows pretty big in their own right. Have you given them a feed during this time? I'd suggest splitting them up and planting each one into a decent size pot individually.

[Loobyloo]

No I haven't fed them at all, not sure what the best thing to use would be?

And they don't seem to be overcrowded, its quite a big trough and quite small plants, but if I'm going to pull up the rocket that would give everything else more room. (lacking in pots at the moment, and lacking in money to buy new ones!)

Is it worth cutting back any parts that look unhealthy to encourage new growth?

[Green Aura]

The sweet rocket may be better in a flower bed or wild flower area. It's a cottage garden plant, quite tall with pretty flowers, smells nice too. You can eat the leaves in salad, but it's not the same plant as rocket you get from the market.
Maggie

[Loobyloo]

I know about the sweet rocket, I got loads of leaves from it in the spring, tasty in sandwiches and salads! My other half prefers it to the normal stuff.

I am loathed to plant anything out in in borders though as we are renting so if we move I'd like to able to take everything with me.

[Millymollymandy]

If you feed them, give them a fertiliser that is higher in nitrogen to encourage the leaf growth rather than a potassium high one which would encourage flowering. With some herbs they usually flower better in hot weather, with a poor soil lacking in nutrients - but they at least can spread their roots. If you look at the NPK on the packet or bottle of fertiliser look for something that says like 10:10:10 - the first figure relates to nitrogen content (N) and the last figure is for potassium (K). Any general purpose fertiliser should be pretty balanced so should do the trick, the thing to avoid is a tomato/geranium type of feed where the K content is higher than the other two.

Alternatively they could just be unhappy if you have had a lot of rain and they are waterlogged, and if you've had cool weather. Do you have drainage in the bottom of the pot?

[maddles]

I usually use a liquid seaweed feed once the herbs have been in their containers for more than about four months (they will have used most of the nutrients from the compost up by then).

Is the rosemary in a separate container doing okay? It doesn't like to have waterlogged roots and depending on it's size you could prune/harvest it to get some bushier growth.

I'd agree that the rocket should be taken out to give the others some space. The marjoram will die back in the winter. The thymes like dry conditions but might need a gentle prune if they are not looking too healthy.

I'd give them a liquid feed, prune the perennial ones and pull up the annual ones.
Hope that helps a bit.

[farmerdrea]

One thing you can do to be able to plant them in your borders and still be able to take them with you is pot them into those hard plastic pots that a lot of nursery plants come in with the bottom cut out. The plants will have a chance to spread their roots a bit, but you can still yank them out of the ground with ease and very little damage to the plant when you do move. I've done this with plants for up to 4 years, taken them with me and replanted. They've been fine, and at the worst lost a few months' worth of growth through transplant stress.

Herbs are just a lot happier in the ground.

Out of interest, what do you feed herb plants? In my 30+ years growing herbs, I've never done much beyond plant, divide, water and eat... they are really easy keepers. Is it because they are planted in pots that they'd need something else?

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

[Millymollymandy]

I suggesting feeding the herbs because they are in a pot and eventually the nutrients get used up from potting compost. I wouldn't feed or suggest doing so for most herbs planted out in soil.