Have you ever brought home potted herbs from the local supermarket and planted them in the garden only to find the plant dead within a few weeks even if you give them heaps of water? Why do these plants die so easily and are they worth buying?
Store-bought herbs such as basil are the cheapest way to get plants that I know apart from planting seeds. This is because the number of plants you get in potted herbs is generally very large with there being, in many cases up to 20 plants, in a single pot, which is great value. However, this also explains why the plants die so quickly.
The growing medium that is generally used for supermarket herbs has relatively low levels of nutrition in them and is really only designed to keep the herbs alive for long enough to get them home and pick one or two bunches before the plant starts to wither and die.
The reason why the plants die is that they lack of nutrients and are competing with too many plants in a small space. So the solution to keeping the plants alive in most cases is to reduce the number of plants and transfer them into new pots or directly into the garden.
Do you need to transplant the herbs into new pots before harvesting them?
Potted herbs from the supermarket can be harvested before they need to be separated and planted in the garden. Harvesting the plants often has distinct benefits as many of these plants are often quite leggy and have large amounts of foliage which will cause the plant to lose moisture extremely quickly through the leaves. This reduces the chances of survival significantly particularly in warm weather.
The main consideration when harvesting herbs from freshly purchased plants is ensuring that when you do remove leaves you leave at least a few on the plant to allow it get to continue to photosynthesize when it is transplanted into the garden.
How to transplant potted herbs into the garden or another pot?
As mentioned earlier in the article the biggest issue with potted herbs is the sheer number of plants that are in the pot in a small space. So when transplanting the seedlings into the garden or into another pot, the first and most important step, is to separate the plants into smaller clumps that have a greater chance of survival.
To do this it is best to pull the plant out of the pot and lay it on its side and then gently put part the soil into small clumps that have 3 to 5 plants in the clump. Ideally, when you’re doing this it is best not to disturb the roots as this will mean that the plant recovers quickly when transplanted into its next location.
When preparing the new location whether that is a pot or directly in the garden it is advisable to add some compost to the soil to ensure that has plenty of nutrients. In terms of the specific conditions in which the herbs should be grown, it is greatly dependant upon the specific herb that you’ve purchased from the supermarket.
To provide some guidance about the preferred growing conditions spacing and minimum temperatures required a table has been provided below.
| Herb | Spacing | Growing Conditions | Minimum Temperature Tolerance |
| Basil | 6 to 12 inches | Full sun, well-drained soil | 50°F (10°C) |
| Mint | 12 to 24 inches | Partial shade to full sun, moist soil | 32°F (0°C) |
| Parsley | 6 to 12 inches | Partial shade to full sun, well-drained soil | 20°F (-6.7°C) |
| Rosemary | 24 to 36 inches | Full sun, well-drained soil | 20°F (-6.7°C) |
| Thyme | 6 to 12 inches | Full sun, well-drained soil | 15°F (-9.4°C) |
| Oregano | 12 to 18 inches | Full sun, well-drained soil | 15°F (-9.4°C) |
| Chives | 6 to 12 inches | Partial shade to full sun, well-drained soil | 20°F (-6.7°C) |
| Cilantro/Coriander | 6 to 12 inches | Partial shade to full sun, well-drained soil | 50°F (10°C) |
| Sage | 24 to 36 inches | Full sun, well-drained soil | 10°F (-12.2°C) |
| Lavender | 24 to 36 inches | Full sun, well-drained soil | 0°F (-17.8°C) |
| Dill | 12 to 18 inches | Full sun, well-drained soil | 25°F (-3.9°C) |
Is there a specific time that is most suited to plant potted herbs into the garden?
The ideal time to plant herbs into the garden is in either spring or autumn in most cases however, again this is dependent upon your specific location and the herb itself. The reason for this is that the temperatures at that time of the year in most locations are relatively mild. ie they are not too hot and not too cold.
Most herb plants generally preferred growing temperatures of approximately 15 to 20 degrees centigrade as this is warm enough to encourage a reasonable rate of growth. If you grow your herbs from seeds you can get much more herb plants fromone packet of seeds, and a packet can last few years too.
However, it is important to note that herbs such as basil are frost sensitive which means that if you live in a location where the temperature gets below freezing it is best to plant these plants in Spring rather than in autumn or keep them indoors.
Can you plant herbs that have been sold as cuttings rather than grown in pots?
It is theoretically possible to grow herbs such as rosemary and mint, that have been sold as cuttings, However, the success rate is not likely to be very high simply because of age of the cuttings.
Generally, in most cases, you would expect herbs to be at least a couple of days old, at minimum, which means that the cuttings have had an opportunity to dry out. This reduces significantly the chances that they will start to grow.
However, if you want to have a go at it the best way to do it is to place the cuttings in water and look for the formation of white roots over a week or two which will tell you whether the cuttings will grow. Generally, I would expect that you are most likely going to have success with rosemary or mint as the stems are hardwood, whereas things like chives will most certainly not grow.
Another, way to get herbs free is to ask your neighbors if they have any of the herbs that you’re after or even take a walk around your local neighborhood and simply grab a handful of herbs if you dare, as you walk past.
