Soil Type for Herbs
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misspudding
Location: Puget Sound corridor
Posted: Mar-15-2004 at 10:16pm
I began some seedlings using seed starter soil and I'm wondering, where to go from here? I've read in many places that most herbs (particularly popular ones found in Italian and French dishes) are grown in the Mediterranean. I've heard that soils in that region are generally "poor" (whatever that means). I've also heard that, while many plants do better with vitamins/richer soil, you get better flavor if you use/do less.
I'm thinking a "well-drained" soil would be good, so just to try it out, I took some standard potting soil and mixed some sand (50%) to make it drain better. I transplanted a small batch of seedlings (parsley is my test subject) to the soil, since they needed to be thinned out anyway, just to see how they do.
Some notes, I'm starting these plants in pots and confining them to the kitchen windowsill now, but I have plans to move them outdoors later.
Also, I'm kinda new to gardening terminology with respect to soil, but I'm a geologist so I learn fast with respect to dirt. Hehehe.
Anyone have experience with this?
Trish
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: Mar-17-2004 at 9:49am
Hi, Miss Pudding. I have an herb garden, and good drainage is critical. I've managed to keep "tender" herbs alive during cold snaps if their roots weren't bogged in water.
Your parsley actually can take wetter conditions than rosemary, lavender, etc. I grow mine in the mint bed, since it also reseeds like crazy the third year.
What other sorts of herbs are you growing?
misspudding
Location: Puget Sound corridor
Posted: Mar-17-2004 at 6:16pm
Hey Trish,
Thanks for the info!
I've also got catnip, chamomile (german), rosemary, lavender (lady), oregano, and basil (lemon) growing, in addition to the parsley. They've all sprouted and are doing well, except for the rosemary. I don't know if I got an old batch of seeds or if rosemary is just really slow to germinate.
It's so new and interesting to me, starting from scratch. Plants are just so "wired" to want to live, I think. (Aren't we all!)
BTW, it appears the transplanting was a success on the parsley...so far, at least!
Trish
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: Mar-18-2004 at 12:41am
Catnip is a mint, so it can take moist soil outdoors. You may need to sneak it into place without bruising the stinky leaves that attract the neighborhood cats!
Rosemary is a woody sub-shrub, so I imagine that it does start slowly from seed. I've started rosemary from cuttings fairly easily.
I only brought in a few herbs last fall, because so many survived winter before. This year's ice storm made me regret that decision. In the meanwhile, lemon verbena, basil, and stevia are house plants.
Outside, there's chives, garlic, tarragon, horehound, chamomile, fennel, hyssop, lavender, lovage, lemon balm, 14 different mints, catnip, catmint, crete dittany, marjoram, oregano, parsley, burnet, rosemary, sorrel, sage, feverfew, germander, thyme, and valerian.
I seem to have lost my Goodwin Creek Grey lavender (a dentata variety), agastache, and perhaps my calamint.
misspudding
Location: Puget Sound corridor
Posted: Mar-18-2004 at 6:55pm
Wow, someone is crazy about mint, I see.
I've heard mints can be relatively invasive. How do you keep them under control?
Trish
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: Mar-30-2004 at 9:27am
Miss Pudding, how are your transplants doing now?
I found an old copy of The Herb Companion, March 2000, with info that might help you. An article by Andy Van Hevlingen of Newberg, OR, states "Rosemary seeds may take as long as a year to germinate, and even then, only about 30 percent of the seedlings survive." It also said to take stem cuttings from mature plants to propogate named cultivars.
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton