Supermarket Herbs

[bettsypies]

Hello I'm new to all this plant growing malarky so i'm trying to make it easy for myself.

I want to keep my own herbs and i have done a bit of research but its mainly gobbledeegook to me.

My thought is i simply buy the herbs now (Jan) from the fresh herb section at the supermarket and re-pot them in a large terracotta bowl and keep them indoors till the weather picks up. Is this ok to do?? Will they survive?

Any comments appreciated ta.

[shiney]

Hi,

I have always found supermarket stuff to be weedy and don't really survive that well. You may want to go and get some seeds and start them off indoors. You'll get loads more for your money as well.

Some places do a herb seed selection pack.

[Hepsibah]

I found the same thing, they can't survive in ordinary conditions. Thankfully they are quite easy to grow from seed, so I've set the kids to growing them.

[Millymollymandy]

I beg to differ, I bought my mint and chives from Lidl and they are happily living outdoors now as great big plants!

Bettsypies - I would wait until about March/April when the weather is a bit warmer then buy them and repot them straight away, as they tend to be very potbound. Keep on a sunny windowsill and when they perk up a bit (give them a hair cut when you repot them) you can plant them outside.

[Shirley]

I would grow from seed too - that way they are growing in the environment in which you wish to keep them from the start.

I have had some success with supermarket bought herbs in the past though - be selective when buying and give the leaves a rub to see what they smell of - surprising how many smell of NOTHING at all.... Also, it is definitely worth separating the pot as in my experience there are normally about 30 little seedlings in a pot that make it look like it's a big plant... 30 seedlings, all restrained by the lack of space in the pot will give the impression of a weedy plant... split them and you might do better.

[kevin m.]

Mint is a prolific plant-I see no reason that a Supermarket specimen shoudn't give you good results.
Traditional wisdom suggests that you should confine it to a pot,or a buried bucket-as it can be rather invasive!.
Certainly growing from seed works out cheaper,plus you can get a much wider variety of herbs than are found in any supermarket.

[Shirley]

Mint is a prolific plant-I see no reason that a Supermarket specimen shoudn't give you good results.
Traditional wisdom suggests that you should confine it to a pot,or a buried bucket-as it can be rather invasive!.
Certainly growing from seed works out cheaper,plus you can get a much wider variety of herbs than are found in any supermarket.

Invasive !!! OH yes.... I had a tiny bit that I put into a bottom hole in a large strawberry barrel planter... ummm.... wasn't long before there was mint coming out of every hole in the barrel looked great though - good job we like mint in our house!!

Have planted some previously next to a lawn - making sure that there were no other plants that it could swamp.... it made mowing the lawn a beautifully fragrant treat!

[Wombat]

Some herbs (I think mint is one of 'em) have tiny seed with which I have had no joy at all. So a supermarket seedling makes sense in some circumstances.

Also I have read that some herbs will not develop aroma/flavour if treated too kindly, say like by using hydroponics, so if the stuff you get is not strongly flavoured enough try a bit of neglect!

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

My mint is in pots. I bought one pot and divided it into 4 plants. They grow so quickly and swamp a large pot in no time. I don't think you can go wrong with mint from the supermarket.

I grew wild thyme (thymus serpollum (sp?)) last year from seed. The seed is minute and the seedlings which I had to prick out were tiny too. But it worked eventually - I wanted lots to cover a dry bank where the soil keeps tumbling down. Hopefully it will spread and keep it all in place and supress the weeds.

[kevin m.]

Nev has made an interesting point there about herbs thriving on neglect.
When you think about it a lot of our popular herbs are mediterranean climate plants that grow on stoney, sun drenched hillsides- poor soil conditions,and not a great deal of rainfall.
I think that providing similar conditions (within reason) may help to concentrate the essential oils in the plant that provides the flavours that we are looking for.

[diver]

I've planted herbs from the supermarkets when they were on their last legs and they are still growing fine in the herb patch...also planted from seed and have found no difference.....it could be the neglect that I heap on them

[Andy Hamilton]

I think it depends on the herbs that you grow. Stuff like rosemary is very difficult to germinate and you are better off growing from cuttings or buying a small plant from a garden centre. In fact I bought one for a mate for £1 it was cheap as it had out grown its pot and was dying. I manged to bring it back to life (before I gave it away) and it is still alive 2 years later.

Stuff like basil, corriander and parsley I think are better grown from seed. The supermarket plants sometimes dont ever see real soil or sunlight. - My girlfriend got a basil plant from aldi on tuesday strangly enough and it is pretty much dead already. A bit more light and we shall be back to growing some more. - mind you just to contradict myself a basil plant from marks and spencer can be kept alive for a few months, indoors.

[Smooth Hound]

Supermarket herbs are forced under artificial conditions, so although they have alot of leaf the plant itself is weedy and ingeneral dies, i would suggest going to a garden centre for your plants, if you were to do that you will be able to buy herbs that have been grown for the purpose of growing on, another way is to divide existing plants during autumn winter and spring. And remember that over watering can kill alot of herbs, I find that for potted herbs it works best if you allow them to go very dry before saturating the soil and then dont water again until it is bone dry right to the bottom of the pot, and also make sure that when you water it make sure the water has penetrated right to the bottom of the soil, you could sit it in a bowl opf water but dont leave it in there long just half an hour.
Mike

[Wormella]

we take no notice of seed packets anfd use our windowsills to grow herbs all year round.

we've just planetd some more mint, basil, corriander and dill and it's all looking good.

[Shirley]

I have bought supermarket seeds and then split the pot - you can get loads of plants from one supermarket pot as they (the one's I've had anyway) are generally a whole bundle of seedlings (albeit long and straggly).

I've got some basil on my windowsill now... some from a supermarket plant and the rest grown from seed.