Help for a gardening novice - herbs and chilli in pots

[TooDamnSarky]

I've encouraged the DC to grow a bunch of herbs and chillis from seed.
So far so good. Most have germinated in small pots of general potting compost.

Some will soon be ready to move to larger pots. My question is... which of these will be fine in a big pot of potting compost and which will need something different to thrive. Some of the seed packets mention "good drainage" but I'm not sure what that means in practice.
Also which pots would you keep in the conservatory and which would you put in the garden.

Chillis
Parsley
Rosemary
Coriander
Thyme
Lemon grass
Basil
Mint
Oregano

Thanks!

I'd say all of those will be fine in pots. You'll probably find some will need an even bigger pot at some point, but that's not to hard to figure out!

Chillis are best kept indoors, everything else can go out. Though take time to harden them off (outside in the day, inside at night) first. I keep basil in the greenhouse as it keeps pests away from my tomatoes.

Thanks. Plenty of space on the conservatory windowsill so that will be fine.

Will my standard compost on its own be ok for all?
I guess I'll need some stakes for the chillis?

We're moving into 5" pots first and then will move to bigger ones later on.

I'm amazed how much fun the kids are having with this. Every morning they are dying tho know if any more seed have popped up.

Normal compost will be fine.

We've got a growing collection of seed trays too! My daughter likes to visit them all at least twice a day! We're up to 3 different windowsills, the greenhouse and on top of the sand table 😂

I don't normally need to stake chillis.

Thanks. The kids will be gutted if we kill them before we get to eat them!

Rosemary and thyme and are Mediterranean shrubs, so they'll be happy in a sunny place. Keep them watered but don't let them get waterlogged especially in cooler weather. If you're worried about drainage (eg if you're using a peat free compost), mix in 25% sand or fine gravel - sand-pit sand or sharp sand not builders sand.

Oregano, depending on species, may be the UK wild flower, more tolerant of sub-optimal drainage. Same for the parsely and the mint. Mint needs confining to a pot even if you decide to sink the pot into the ground because it sends out runners and takes over. If you want to raise new plants, cuttings root very easily in a glass of water, something else to try with the children. Chocolate mint blancmange is really nice.

basil is a tropical plant. Although you can grow it outside, if you're not in the south it'll probably do better inside.

That's all super helpful. Thanks.
I have some not very fine gravel from when we did the driveway. Maybe I'll mix a small amount of that for the thyme.

And rosemary.

The other thing to mention is that thyme, rosemary, oregano, mint will all survive outside over winter. Parsley will too, but next year it will send up flower spikes and get woody and tough and then die, so you really need to sow it fresh each year. basil wants a lot of warmth in winter, and I've never managed to keep it going beyond October, so again it's best re-sown each year.

Chillis can be kept indoors over winter, but it's usual to grow from new each year.

Thanks. That all fits with my plan.

another question...
Is it worth buying fertilizer/plant food for the herbs and chillies.
If so which?

Yes, for anything in a pot, because it's a closed system with limited ability for nutrients to enter. Tomato fertiliser for the chillis to support flowering and fruiting. A general purpose fertiliser would be bst for the herbs as you're mainly after leaf growth, but unless you've other plants you're using it on, I would just stick to the tomato fertiliser, It's readily available and inexpensive.

I use tomato fertiliser for everything in the greenhouse and the tubs on the terrace, a liquid fertiliser which dilutes at the rate of two capfuls in a big watering can. I water the porch from the kitchen, so for that it's less faff to scatter some slow release granules round the plants every 6 weeks.

@TooDamnSarky, I love the way you are learning along with your DC. I've ventured into veg growing for the first time this year and am thoroughly enjoying learning as I go along.

Thanks everyone. You're all very kind to help me!

Everything is currently on the window sills in the conservatory so we are watering into the saucer rather than from the top.
Is that ok? Does that mean the diluting fertilisers are no good?
At some point we'll have to start moving things outdoors but I'd like to keep them in the warm for as long as we have space.

Ds1 currently has 14 chilli plants on the the go!

Fertiliser that you put into the water will be fine, because all the water in the saucer will be drawn up into the soil. Granules on top should lso be fine, because they'll be wetted by the damp soil - provided the top soil does get damp.

Hi OP. You've had great advice on most things so just thought I'd chip in on the lemongrass! I presume that you propagated from supermarket lemongrass? These will be fine outside over the summer but do not tolerate cool weather at all so will need to be brought in on cold summer nights and kept indoors over winter. They do great in pots!

Thanks both.
The lemongrass is from seed. I went a bit overboard with the seed shopping.
Today we transplanted 8 lemongrass seedlings into separate pots. Should be enough for our culinary needs

I think we now have a total of about 30 pots growing either in the conservatory or the kitchen. It's like a nursery in here!

#MustBuyMorePots

Correction. 36 pots