Herb plants from the supermarket

[3Britnee]

Does any one else's living herbs actually live?

Mine always wilt and die within a few days, so this time I repotted them, but they are still dying 😔 can they be saved?

What do I need to do to stop this happening all the time?

Buy from the garden centre. Shop brought herbs tend to be forced on so not great quality

Are they not also root bound because so many plants are forced into each pot?

i can keep them sometimes...but they are not well treated and more often than not they do die.
I think it's because they are "forced" so lots of leafy grow but the stems are not really mature enough to support. I find coriander and flat leaf parsley to be the worst.

Having said that I have three or four parsleys that i have put out in the garden for a last chance and they are really coming on. Also a couple of mints, so it can be done.

Yes, supermarket herbs are actually loads of tiny forced seedlings rather than one proper mature plant, so they never survive. I have given up buying them!

I find that if you replant them swiftly into a much larger pot, they’re fine. My parsley, sage and coriander are very happy in their new homes!

Basil works well for me. Tease the roots into small clumps and replant in a bigger pot in good compost. They should survive a few months.

Even when they have survived being planted out, they are varieties which grow quickly in a greenhouse, not garden varieties.
Plants I have got from the garden centre are doing really well though!

I think the delicate leaf one's like coriander from super market don't survive long time ime. But my thyme, oregano and chive are thriving in my garden.

Split into several plants, that seems to work best. I did well with basil like that, last year. Got quite a few pots out of one plant and they lasted ages.

I only keep basil indoors. Any others (parsley, thyme, sage, coriander, mint) do much better outside in a flower bed (careful with mint as it spreads). Basil too grows better in the garden but it's not hardy and will die in autumn with the first frost. You can grow your own basil by putting some basil leaves into a bowl of water on the window sill for a few weeks. Have no issues with the quality of the plants from supermarkets but they are cheaper than from the garden centre.

They are fine. I think all herbs need to go outside though. They die inside

Yes, I always buy supermarket herbs, split them up, repot and grow them on. Google for how to harvest different types of herbs to encourage them to grow eg basil from the top to get it to branch out and become bushy, parsley from the bottom of the stem as it doesn't branch.

Flat leaf parsley and coriander are the hardest to grow on as they cram the pots with seeds and force them. They are so etiolated (leggy) that they can't support themselves. You have some new growth though, the shorter, healthier looking shoots.

Pick the pot with the shortest shoots when you buy. You need to split the pots up and repot when you buy them, then thin the tall shoots evenly, cutting them at the base, leaving the short new growth. If that is too much parsley/coriander for you to eat in one go, at least try to keep any long, floppy shoots off the soil and drape them over the edge of the pot evenly to maximise the amount of light they get and to let the light get through to the new growth. Curly leaf parsley is a lot sturdier but a less delicate flavour.

www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-divide-supermarket-herbs/

Yes but you have to re-pot and break them up into smaller clumps into a much bigger pot.

@ComingOutOfMyCave

Buy from the garden centre. Shop brought herbs tend to be forced on so not great quality

That makes sense. I did try the garden centre but they didn't have coriander.

@334bu

Are they not also root bound because so many plants are forced into each pot?

I only bought and planted them on Wednesday.

@Thecazelets

Yes, supermarket herbs are actually loads of tiny forced seedlings rather than one proper mature plant, so they never survive. I have given up buying them!

I think I will.

[quote chesirecat99]Yes, I always buy supermarket herbs, split them up, repot and grow them on. Google for how to harvest different types of herbs to encourage them to grow eg basil from the top to get it to branch out and become bushy, parsley from the bottom of the stem as it doesn't branch.

Flat leaf parsley and coriander are the hardest to grow on as they cram the pots with seeds and force them. They are so etiolated (leggy) that they can't support themselves. You have some new growth though, the shorter, healthier looking shoots.

Pick the pot with the shortest shoots when you buy. You need to split the pots up and repot when you buy them, then thin the tall shoots evenly, cutting them at the base, leaving the short new growth. If that is too much parsley/coriander for you to eat in one go, at least try to keep any long, floppy shoots off the soil and drape them over the edge of the pot evenly to maximise the amount of light they get and to let the light get through to the new growth. Curly leaf parsley is a lot sturdier but a less delicate flavour.

www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-divide-supermarket-herbs/[/quote]
Those short bits are where I cut some this morning for my salad 🙈

I think I'll try to grow some from seeds. I'll make a raised bed so my dogs can't wee on them and plant a few different ones.

Not the cut stems, I meant the short stems with leaves are new growth! Try to cut right parsley and coriander at the bottom of the stem as they won't regrow from the cut stem. The cut stems will just block the light from any new shoots.

It's getting a bit late for planting parsley/coriander seeds this year, at least, if you want to harvest over the summer. You could speed up germination by soaking the seeds in water overnight, even more if you add 1/2 a soluble aspirin to a litre of water.

If you want to buy plants, I always recommend this herb nursery that I use as being better quality and cheaper than most garden centres:

www.norfolkherbs.co.uk/

My dad somehow keeps them going. Sadly, I end up killing most of mine.

Thanks everyone, I think I'll stick to buying them for now 😂🙈

Yes! I get them when they’re reduced to 25p. My garden is full of them.