Herbs-chives, corriander and basil...

[catbud]

Hello!

I put basil, corriander and chives in separate pots on the 23rd May and it's still no show-I followed the instructions-they've been covered in sandwich bags and been on my windowsill. Should I put them in my airing cupboard overnight? Other seeds that I've planted are growing fine...

[sewer rat]

Catbud
You are obviously suffering from a common complaint that afflicts us all from time to time - gardeners impatience Give them time - a week isn't a long time and many seeds are slower to germinate than some of the other veggies you are growing that you mentioned on another thread.

[Alice]

Catbud, Rat is absolutely right. You haven't given them a week yet. Be patient. they will appear in the next day or two. And NO, don't put them in the airing cupboard. All you will get is week, spindly plants.

[Jaxom]

Be patient. I like that advice and should have learnt to follow it by now I threw out seeds and soil that had sat for over a month as I thought they were a no show. I now have vegetables growing where I dumped the soil. The packet said they would sprout in one week. Four weeks after throwing the seeds away I have cucumbers trying to grow at the base of my pear tree.

[janie]

Good luck with the basil, for some reason I just can't grow it no matter what I do.
Chives do take a while to germinate though, worth the wait!

[vicki]

our chives took a few weeks to germinate but are doing brilliantly now. when should we expect flowers on them, and do thesehave to be removed or left on?

[Clarea1]

Hiya, my parsley took ages to come through. Basil came through real quick but more than a week I think!

I covered mine with vermiculite rather than burying the seed, I am finding this a good method. It doesn't compact after watering like a compost covering does.

Clare x

[Mel]

I've also been using vermiculite to good effect. Last year, I struggled with basil and only managed to grow a pretty poor plant. However, this year I got three strong plants from my first sewing and I'm about to divide up my second sewing. They did take a while to germinate though so hang on in there. The one thing I'm really struggling with is rosemary - in the end, I just bought a plant from the garden centre!

[SueA]

I find most herb seeds a bit erratic in germinating especially basil & chives, sometimes they take weeks to appear.Vicki- you might get flowers later on in the summer on your chives & you can either leave them on for decoration or pick them off & add them to salads etc. If you leave them on though the plants will go to seed & not be much use for cropping any more leaves but you could collect the seed & try re-sowing.

[vicki]

thanks SueA, I'll wait and see what happens and if any flowers appear I'll pick them!

[lyndap]

I cheat with my basil now .Buy a pot of ready grown ready to eat stuff from asda for 58p.Cut tops off(and use)Take the basil out of the pot with soil attatched and place in tepid water.(you should end up with 20+seedlings standing in slushy mud)The 'mud' coats the roots and you just pot on into 3/4inch pots as you normally do with seedlings .Ended up with 30 plants last year and gave loads away.I do the same when I need more chives, exept I only divide them into 2 or 3 plants.

[valmarg]

Another method with bought basil is to cut the tops out and put them in a jug/jamjar of water, and they will root very easily. Your original bought plants will bush out, and you can keep nipping, rooting and potting on the tips.

I have difficulty with damping off with basil, but the above method is pretty well foolproof.

You can do similar with bought lemon grass. If you put the stems in a jam jar of water, changing the water quite frequently, you will find that they eventually begin to root. Pot them up, and they will throw off side shoots. You can end up with a really large plant.

valmarg

[Alice]

Thanks for that Lyndap. I find I can only grow basil in the greenhouse or on the windowsill. It just won't do outside. Are you trying it outside Janie. Suspect the climate in Cumbria just not up to it.

[SueA]

Basil doesn't like being outside here either, I think it doesn't like being cold & wet especially at night so I always keep some in the kitchen as well. I do the 'cheats' way of splitting up supermarket pot herbs & taking cuttings also & have some basil still growing which started off as a Tesco pot over a year ago.

[janie]

I,ve tried basil in the greenhouse and on the kitchen and lounge windowsills. I think I will give the supermarket splitting trick a go. Such a shame though as I have a few packets of different basils plus lime basil because I thought it might have been the variety. My last attempts did germinate but damps off. Maybe I'll give them one last try though. It helps, being an optimist!!