How to Avoid the Common Mistakes in Herb Gardening

Growing from seedlings

When instead of planting your own seeds. You can easily buy them from grocery stores during late spring. Here, you are trying to avoid the errors in the seed to seedling transition such as not thinning out plants properly. Thus, it is best to begin by skipping that complicated task.

Picking the wrong varieties to begin with

It terms of the varieties, try to grow fresh basil first. That variety can be the perfect trainer herb. Its advantage is it grows quickly and you are able to observe the effects of your care more easily. Another factor that you can observe is that basil leaves withered visibly when not watered sufficiently. This will help you determine how much water is needed for this variety.

Improper watering method

Remember that herbs need a moderate amount of water every day. For some delicate herbs, the requirement is a moderate and regular watering especially during hot summer months.

Using tired soil to grow your herbs

You can easily identify a tired soil if it looks grey and depressing. Of course, you don’t want your herb to grow in that type of soil. The good type of soil is a combination of potting soil, used coffee grounds, and organic compost. You can also add crushed egg shells or a diluted solution of Miracle to help your herbs flourish.

Lack of or no trimming at all

Basil is an ideal variety to practice pruning. You can cut just above a set of growing leaves. With basil, the originally trimmed stem will no longer grow if you cut it that way. But there will be two new stems that will grow around the original cutting and it creates a V shape. However, see to it that you also leave a few good sturdy leaves on the plant. Meanwhile, if you don’t cut it regularly, it will continue to grow straight up. As a result, it becomes too tall and top-heavy. As the herb continues to grow, also do pruning for approximately every 3-4". You may let it grow for a while and then trim again for about 2-3 inches of the original cut.

you are just new to growing fresh herbs, it is recommended that you grow from seedlings