or, do supermarkets deliberately poison live pots of herbs?

[counterpoint]

I love a bit of basil or some crunchy coriander chopped up in my summer salads. So I can never resist opting for a pot of live herbs when I am in the veggie section of (usually) Sainsbury's or Morrison's. But they just don't last! No sooner have I pinched a top or two, when the blooming things wilt over and die, overnight!

Am I better off getting a cut bunch of herbs and leaving them in the fridge till needed?

I used to be able to grow herbs. Usually bought them in a pot from the garden centre and they stood on my window sill. They lasted several months. Now, similar pots bought from supermarkets last just a few days at most.

AIBU to think the supermarkets deliberately plant something in the pots so that the herbs do not survive more than a few days and hence we have to keep replenishing them?

Grrr! It's like a Midsomer Murders mystery in my kitchen!

I repot them into clay pots and they last months.

Basil is suicidal in the winter months IME, but it lasts quite well on a sunny windowsill in the summer, with regular watering from below.

I do take leaves from the top, purely because when it's growing like mad it threatens to topple, but it sprouts new shoots with more leaves from the side.

I got a cheap pot of basil from aldi. Re-potted it immediately, it grew and grew, and grew. Then one day when I was sick of looking at it I made it into pesto, and froze it in small batches.
My little pot of mint is now in a ginormous tub, and split up for anyone who wants some.

The trick to supermarket or even garden centre herbs is to repot them as soon as you buy them.

My garden is over run with supermarket chives I brought years ago. The rosemary I brought, repotted about 3 times and then stuck in the ground is now a massive bush that I have to hack a third off at least once a year.

I don't have any basil this year but normally I buy some, repot and put on my sunny kitchen window sill.

I can usually keep basil for a while - first harvest some whole stems to leave room for the rest, then a combination of pinching the top and taking large lower leaves.

If I do misjudge the watering and it starts to wilt, all is not lost - cut and put the stems in a glass of water, they usually grow roots.

Waitrose ones seem to last a lot longer. Tesco and Lidl die in the car on the way home!

i think it depends which supermarket. i have basil (lidl) and rosemary (sainsburys) on my kitchen windowsill and had them for months, i put them in a saucer of water every day/2nd day. im growing coriander from seed though which seems to be doing well

i have mint from a different supermarket (tesco) and its struggling

i’d love to grow my own outside but i have a shared garden.

just read PPs saying to re-pot, i will have to try that

I too am a herb-i-cidal maniac! So far I've managed to kill 2 basil and 2 mint. Indoors and outdoors, repotted and left. I didn't overwater the basil but honestly didn't even get chance to start using it - they wilted and expired overnight! Managed to grow a lovely pot of rocket earlier this year from seed, put it outside and some lovely little insect has stripped it. I'd starve if I had to be self sufficient. I'm useless. 😥

I buy pots of herbs and plant them into a big pot. How are you doing it? For basil, I split it into 4-6 little plants and plant them around the pot. I only need 2 pots for the entire season. They go woody after a month or two, so I start a new one after a bit. With coriander, they don’t like splitting, so just put the enter pot into a bigger one. The old leaves will die off but new ones will grow quickly.

I also keep parsley. They are all in the garden against a south facing wall. I use multipurpose compost.

Oh and I have mint too. It’s now two years old. They die down over winter but keep the pot somewhere which it gets rain. It will come back late spring.

Water basil sparingly first thing in the morning. It’s a Mediterranean plant. It doesn’t like having soggy feet, it likes a sunny ( but not too hot) windowsill.

Repot them in a bigger pot straight away and they will flourish on your kitchen window. Until you use the whole plant making pesto, anyway.

How do you stop chives from going all floppy?

I grew some chives in the garden from a supermarket pot. They might do better in a garden or pot outside. They also get pretty purple flowers on them.

Waitrose/Ocado last longest with basil lasting longest of all.

They’re shipped and stored like anything else in the fruit and veg section. Which is far from ideal for a live plant, especially a young, fragile live plant.

If you repot them and take care of them they might live, but you’d be much better off just going to a good nursery and buying some herbs that have been properly taken care of from the start.

The basil I bought from a supermarket last year is still going! And it's not even been repotted. It's on a very sunny windowsill though.

Our mint's still going strong in a big pot outside. I bought it last summer.

Basil likes lots of space, so split and repot, and you’ll have a happy plant for the summer.

I buy the packets and keep in the fridge, then transfer to the freezer.

i was also going to suggest basil from Waitrose. far better chance of it doing well.

I've had more luck rooting a very fresh looking bunch of mint from the supermarket than with the pots, it roots so easily and grows like mad. I keep mine in a pot to stop it spreading everywhere, the current one came from a few cuttings that got very neglected and battered. Every few months I cut it right down, freeze the majority and let it regrow.

I think sains do something to the herbs so that they don't last and then you have to buy again...I was told this by an employee. They said to buy from garden centres rather than store.

To be honest I've given up and use frozen. Tastes great and no problems with it dying. 😂

I also recently tried the freshly dried version of basil at sainsburys. Apparently lasts 3 weeks. It was great too.