by Avril Defleurey

Created on: May 28, 2010

Herbs need a good light to warmth ratio, seedlings grown with too much light and not enough warmth will tend to be spindly. Spindly or scrawny seedlings tend not to grow into healthy plants later on. To avoid spindly plants it is best to grow them indoors at first or wait until the weather is appropriately warm enough.

To sow indoors, it is preferable but not essential to use flat trays or pans, small round pots will do so long as they have been crocked (by adding small pieces of crockery to the bottom of the pot to provide good drainage). Fill the tray/pan or pot to half an inch from the top with good compost.

A good compost would be one that is soil based, soil less compost with fibers is not recommended as seeds tend to roll down into the gaps and either rot or not receive enough light to flourish.

Before sowing the seeds, firm down the surface of the soil with a block taking particular care to firm the soil at the corners to prevent the seeds from rolling or washing down into them.

Water the prepared compost from above and leave to stand for a short time before sprinkling the seeds directly but thinly onto the surface of the damp compost.

If the seeds are very tiny and handling them is difficult, mix them with very fine sand to make them easier to sprinkle. If the seeds are large enough to handle then plant them individually by pushing them down slightly into the prepared compost. 

Lightly cover the seeds with compost or vermiculite and place in a warm area if possible, although heat is beneficial, preferably from underneath it is not essential. At this stage the seeds need darkness to germinate, the best covering for the pots/trays is newspaper which also acts as an insulator.

As soon as shoots begin to appear remove the newspaper as at this stage light is essential. To avoid the seedlings growing leggy and leaning to one side, stand the tray or pots in a box lined with tin foil as this will reflect a more even light around them and help to avoid the legginess.

As soon as the seedlings have developed the first pair of true leaves they can be handled. Prick them out into pots of compost (soil less is acceptable at this stage) filled to just below the rim.

Make a hole in the compost with a dibber or something suitable such as a pen or small stick, hold the seedling by a seed leaf (one of the two first leaves to grow) and very gently ease it from tray/pot.

Carefully place the seedling into the prepared hole and firm the compost around it checking the area around it for gaps. Water the seedling lightly to settle it in.

Once the plants are big enough they can either be potted on for growing on kitchen windowsills or patios, or, planted out into a prepared herb bed. However some herbs detest being moved and therefore must be sown straight out into the garden.

Dill is one of the herbs that prefer to be grown directly into the outdoor bed. Dill can be sown straight into a bed by roughly using the same procedure as above, but caution must be taken to ensure that all possibility of frost has passed.

Mint also prefers to grow directly into the bed but can grow to be very invasive; therefore, it is better to grow mint in a large outdoor pot or in a small bed of its own well away from other plants.

Fennel is an herb with long roots; therefore it is more suited to be sown or pricked out into a deep outdoor pot or bed, again ensuring that all possibility of frost has passed. The use of a fungicide may be necessary on Sage or Rosemary to prevent the stems rotting at soil level.

Fungicide is safe to use if diluted with water and only used at the very early stages of growth when the leaves to be used for culinary purposes have not yet grown.

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