Who's got green fingers?

[Cosmicpore]

[/poor kermit joke]

Totes magotes going to try growing my own herbs. And by herbs I literally mean basil, parsley and mint. 'Sake.

Bought a pathetic basil plant (well actually plants, there are loads crammed into one tiny pot) which I plan on re-potting and eventually try propagating. If that works I'll start on mint, garlic, spring onions and anything else useful I can think of.

If THAT works I might event try some pansies/marigolds or something else pretty I can grow indoors by a window sill (not having the luxury of a garden, being stuck in the city centre).

Picked up some coco coir/peat today, thinking it would be sufficient to grow the bastard basil plant(s) but after some more reading it looks like potting mix is needed. The most simple potting mix recipe I found was coir, worm castings and perlite (expensive/unavailable) so I'll have to pick up the latter two tomorrow but saw neither on my travels today (I originally went out for soil but found none, would have to venture out to a homebase for that).

Any keen gardeners/growers here willing to pass on their wisdom? I'm actually quite looking forward to starting a new hobby.

What do you grow (athankyou)?

P.S. My most successful greenfingery to date was about 10 years ago when I kept a poinsettia alive for about 3 months longer than the usual 1-week that poinsettias seem to last. By accident of course.

[Hippie on hill]

I'd stay away from the Basil for your 1st go m8.
It's not native to the UK so it's gonna need some extra help.
I tend to buy potted Basil plants from the "super"market, repot them straight away in some organic compost and keep them alive on the windowsill as long as I can.

Herbs are probably the easiest place to start gardening tho imo. You don't need to put in a lot of effort to keep them alive if you use a reasonable quality compost, in a pot with a hole in the bottom (and a saucer) so they don't drown, water them when the pot feels light, and give them a trim regularly to make them bush out.
If you like yer salads then I doubt you'll have any bother with snails n the like, growing your own salad leaves n stuff on a window ledge too.
In my pots outside I generally have a few different strains of oregano, marjoram, bay, Rosemary, thyme, parsley, chives, wild garlic, coriander, a few different mints, lemon verbena, land cress ..... basically all the herbs I like and use .... apart from the bloody Basil

Good luck with it m8. The buzz from growing, cooking and scoffing yer own produce is well worth the effort.

[Cosmicpore]

I can imagine.

Looks like you've got a great selection. I'm envious. Would love some coriander, the thing I cook with most, but read its quite difficult to grow. Have you grown all your stuff from seed? Not sure if its worth waiting the extra month before sewing but I'm thinking of just banging on with it or starting from plants. Excitement is already setting in.

[Hippie on hill]

Yes, mostly from seed from Wilkos and cuts from here and there.
My Mum's is a ninja at taking cuts from the kitchen gardens when we go visiting stately homes

Coriander is easy peasy m8. It's a good idea to put down a new tray of seeds each month tho as it doesn't last long before it goes into flower, for me. There is an upside to that, I mean flowers produce more seeds but it's the leafy bits you want for cooking.

The perennials that you're gonna use a lot (rosemary, oregano, bay ...), I'd buy potted and get a few more cuts on the go from the original or hire yourself a cutting Ninja like Mumsie.
The softer and seasonal ones like coriander, cress, salad leaves ... I'd save your money and buy seeds. Some of them come in a tampon now so all you need do is wet the tampon, cover it with 2mm of soil and they'll just grow. It only takes a few weeks for them to get established and you'll get way more for ya money.

[rmj2663]

Marigolds are easy to grow as the seeds are quite big and manageable.
Sow quite spread out and cover with 2mm of compost, keep in the dark, just cover with newspaper or something and keep warm and wet. within a couple of days / week they will sprout, then keep them in a light place. keep moist. when 2" high you can re-pot in to bigger pots, or pots that give them more space. they will flower all summer, so long as you cut the dead flowers off regularly.
One pack of seeds will give loads of plants. I used to grow loads when I had my greenhouse.
they are a true beginners plant to grow from seed. Good luck.

[blacksheep]

I bought a pack of mixed basil seeds called 1 x H214: Herb. Basil Spice Boys Mixture 1 gram seeds. = £1.40. From a place called nickys nursery, they also do a great selection of chillis too (but bit late in the year for them). You might be a bit late for most things but that site/company have a huge variety of herbs other edibles and flowers and when they're meant to be planted.

Planted the basil, watered and they exploded - had no problem growing them at all and the different varieties were great to try.