Starting Your Herb Garden – Part 3

The new plants are a little temperamental.  You cannot ignore them and expect them to survive.  Proper lighting and watering are needed to make them grow.  As they get bigger you will want to transplant them into containers so they can grow stronger for the outdoors.

The soil you transplant the new herb seedlings should be light and loose.  You will want the roots to be able to breathe and not drown.  Proper drainage is necessary when you re-pot the plants, as well.  Keep the pots a little on the small side.  You want the plants to develop a good rooting system, but you want to force some growth up top as well.

As the plants mature you will want to weather them.  This is nothing more than taking them outside for a breath of fresh air.  When the weather is warm enough, you can take the new plants outside to soak up the bright sunlight.  This will acclimate the plants to the outdoors.

If you do not include this step, the plants can go into shock.  Just putting them straight into the garden without any gentle acclimation could cause the young plants to die.  They are not used to the colder nights and brighter days.  This tends to put them into a state of shock.  Plants do not like shock.

Once you have weathered the plants for about a week or so, you can start to transplant them into the garden.  Select the spot where you want each herb to grow.  I guarantee this is not where they will stay.  Natural herbs tend to spread and spread they will.  They will spread all over the place if you let them.  The nice thing about herbs is the reason you are growing them is to use them.  To use herbs you must prune the plant.  Pruning and clipping cuts down on the growth and spreading.  There is a way to keep your herb garden under control.

You can always grow them in a container.  This will make sure growth and spreading do not get out of hand.