A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?

Usenet Nutter wrote:
A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?

oh yes. sunlight warmth and water are required though.

you can repot them if you like.

On Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:53:19 +0000, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Usenet Nutter wrote:
A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?

oh yes. sunlight warmth and water are required though.

you can repot them if you like.

Any tips re type of compost etc . Sunlight and warmth might need to
wait for a few weeks tho!

Usenet Nutter wrote:
A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?


Try asking the question on "uk.rec.gardening", you will probably get a
better response there, In my limited experience your best approach is
to repot them as soon as you get home, keep them indoors over night,
put them out on sunny days until they are acclimatised to their new
situation.
Good luck
Don

On Sat, 13 Feb 2010 12:02:52 +0000, Donwill
wrote:

Usenet Nutter wrote:
A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?


Try asking the question on "uk.rec.gardening", you will probably get a
better response there, In my limited experience your best approach is
to repot them as soon as you get home, keep them indoors over night,
put them out on sunny days until they are acclimatised to their new
situation.
Good luck
Don

Thx for the reply ....I forgot that NG was there so I have posted
there now .

On 13/02/2010 11:29, Usenet Nutter wrote:
A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?

Yes. My partner does that quite well. Typically we might buy a medium
basil, re-pot straightaway (John Innes of some number is fine), and
leave for a week or two. By then they are as large as a more expensive
large pots and usually much greener and stronger. We currently have two
pots of basil on the kitchen window sill (or is that window board?) that
have been there for months.

Coriander seems the most fussy - got to get the watering spot on.

We have a small, inexpensive plastic sheet 'greenhouse' which is great
to use between frosty and hot weather.

--
Rod

On Feb 13, 11:29*am, Usenet Nutter
wrote:
A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots *like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?

Yes, growing them is the way to go. With most of them they can be put
into troughs on a windowsill in ordinary compost with slow release
plantfood. I've noticed the rootballs on these are seriously
undersized, and frequent watering is needed until they get
established.

Basil really flourished in direct sunlight, mints do ok with partial
direct sun, coriander seems to be temperamental, and thyme doesnt
tolerate rootball disturbance, so dont split it and be gentle with the
rootball.

Doing this produces many times more herb than you could harvest off
the weedy things that supermarket herb plants are. I tried
experimenting with perennialising annuals too, it takes electric
lighting to succeed.


NT

Usenet Nutter wrote:
A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?

Parsley, basil and thyme grow easily if transplanted outdoors in summer, and
then they come up every year...oregano and mint too, but you have to keep an
eye on these as they have a tendency towards world domination and will take
over your garden.
Corriander is a pain in the arse as its a fussy ******* and hates too much
water, not enough water, too hot, too cold, too light, too dark, too windy,
not windy enough etc etc, and it will drop dead if someone looks at it
funny.
You really need a greenhouse for corriander, but even then the results make
it not worth bothering with.

There's dozens of herbs that do well in our climate, ask in
uk.rec.gardening - they will probably have a list of indoor and outdoor
herbs you can try.

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

Phil L wrote:
Usenet Nutter wrote:
A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?

Parsley, basil and thyme grow easily if transplanted outdoors in summer, and
then they come up every year...oregano and mint too, but you have to keep an
eye on these as they have a tendency towards world domination and will take
over your garden.
Corriander is a pain in the arse as its a fussy ******* and hates too much
water, not enough water, too hot, too cold, too light, too dark, too windy,
not windy enough etc etc, and it will drop dead if someone looks at it
funny.
You really need a greenhouse for corriander, but even then the results make
it not worth bothering with.

There's dozens of herbs that do well in our climate, ask in
uk.rec.gardening - they will probably have a list of indoor and outdoor
herbs you can try.


Mostly I think they just dry out too quickly in small pots on a window
sill. I have a few growing outside, and they all seem to prefer shade
and shelter

In article ,
Usenet Nutter writes:
A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?

Yes, I have a rosemary shrub and some chives outdoors, both of which
came from Waitrose originally.

I repotted them and had them indoors for a couple of years. However,
I would occasionally forget to water them, and the rosemary managed
to catch red spider from another plant, and I can't spray it if I'm
going to eat it, so I put it outside over a very cold winter which
killed the red spider. It's been outside ever since, and both have
done better outside than they did indoors, although the chives die
back over winter, obviously.

I don't remember exactly how I got them started, but I think I
repotted them. Wasn't sure if there were actually any nutriants
in the original pots, or might have relied on hydoponics to feed
them. The rosemary perked up quite a lot with a little baby-bio,
before the repotting. I've had to repot it again since, but that
was partly because it has outgrown the original repotting and had
become root bound.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:29:47 +0000, Usenet Nutter
wrote:

A couple of times I have bought growing herbs in pots like Basil
,Parsley or Coriander etc from supermarkets and while they are fine
and very healthy when you buy them they never survive more than a few
days . I'm assuming that they are forced to get to the "selling" stage
but has anyone ever bought these and got them to last ?


Chives will proabbly survive if you repot them. Coriander doesn't do
so well, but get a bag of seeds instead and have a go yourself. Goes
to seed quite quickly though.
--
http://www.Voucherfreebies.co.uk
http://www.holidayunder100.co.uk