Supermarket herbs

[NickyEds]

I've just got back from the garden centre where I picked up some herb plants. They weren't expensive but is there any reason why I can't just pot up the little herbs you get at the supermarket? The basil I had delivered to eat looked a bit....bushier! I have no idea about gardening.

Yes, pot them up. The supermarket herbs do better than the garden centre ones IME.

James Wong talks about this in his book. The supermarket herbs are basically seeds that are forced to grow under artificial light. Some are tougher than others just by how they grow. I've had success with thyme and chives put into the garden, but plants from the garden centre or grown from seed have been stronger.

Basil is trickier. Why you buy a pot of it, if you look closely, it's not actually a single plant but lots of lush seedlings that have been forced under artificial light. To get them to grow on into plants, you need to divide them and pot them into a nutrient-rich compost, water really well, and put them somewhere sheltered (e.g. a windowsill indoors that isn't too baked) to recover. However, the flavour you get from them really isn't comparable to basil grown in a sun-baked area of your garden from seed, unfortunately.

I've got supermarket Basil and Parsley potted up on the patio at the moment. Done it for years,and always seems to work well, and they seem to do much better than the garden-centre herbs at the other end of the garden.

It's mainly basil and parsley I'm interested an as they're the herbs I use most of. I might just buy a couple of quids worth and give them a go. This is only my second year with a garden and last year I was too pregnant to take advantage of it!