il Tue, 25 May 2004 23:05:21 +0000 (UTC),
(Jake Wildstrom) ha scritto:

First off, let me know if I'm in the wrong place, please: the posts
I've seen here are mostly outdoor and fruit/vegetable-gardening, and
I'm doing (as the subject lines imply) herbs in indoor planters. i
live in an apartment, so outdoor transplantation isn't viable, else I
probably would.

Another confession: I've come into this rather cold, knowing little at
all about gardening, so a lot of what I've done up until now seems
absurd to serious gardeners, I'm sure.

Here's my setup: I have several pots sitting on my window-sill. I'm
growing lemon balm, sweet basil, Genovese basil, and spearmint from
seed. The soil is Miracle-Gro Moisture-Control; the window is a
west-facing second-story in a suburban community (so it gets pretty
much unobstructed light in the afternoon). I water the plants when the
soil becomes perceptibly dry, or when the plants become perceptibly
wilted -- I use about a half teaspoon of Miracle-Gro all-purpose plant
food per gallon of water.

And here is the problem: in terms of color and not dying, the plants
seem to be doing OK. However, the actual leaves are flavorless --
especially on the mint; the basil has a mild flavor and detectably
basil-like odor; the lemon balm has both full flavor and odor, and the
stems on the sweet basil and mint seem to be growing woody. In
addition, the mint has rather sparse foliage -- there's a lot of stem
between leaves,and the leaves are starting to curl and dry up around
the edges. Also, none of my herbs are showing buds or flowers, which
I'd rather expected.

It seems I'm missing something crucial in my plant-care here. What is
it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Basil stems do grow woody and mint too for that matter. I wouldn't
let them wilt all that often, they don't need near death experiences
to improve flavour. They need to be watered more often. Only the top
bit of soil gets dry, not the whole pot.

Dry and curly? Not enough water for sure, more fertiliser and bigger
pots seem to be needed, that way they don't dry out so quick. Is that
the correct ratio of fertiliser to water? seems a little on the light
side, but I don't know the brand. In summer I had to water my basil
every day. The flowers form later in summer. And you don't want basil
to flower, you want the leaves after all.

How big are those pots? I get better plants in pots like at least 8"
across at the top. I do have some small leafed basil in smaller pots
but they are also a smaller plant. My Yates Thrive liquid feed wants
5 ml per 2 litres water every week.

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]