14-09-2005, 02:41 PM
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wrote:
I know virtually nothing about gardening. However, I would like to grow
small amounts of chives, basic, dill, rosemary etc.
Some perennial herbs grow slowly and take a while to get established
(rosemary, oregano, thyme, chives), so you may want to get those as
small plants from the nursery (or even your grocery store--some will
sell small potted herbs). Basil and dill grow easily from seed. Parsley
is also not hard to grow from seed, but it helps the germination rate if
you soak the seeds overnight before planting. Dill grows quite large (3
feet or more), and to get useable amounts of basil you also need several
decent-sized plants--they'll get to a couple feet and should be in
fairly large pots, like 8" in diameter. I don't think there's any
particular advantage to buying a kit.
You can use anything for pots, so long as they have drainage holes.
Herbs are pretty easy to care for and will generally tolerate a lot of
neglect. If your business trips are a week or less, you may not need to
mess with an automatic waterer if you set up a system where your pots
can be sitting in a tray with some extra water, moved to the coolest,
shadiest part of your balcony while you're gone.
Rosemary is a "tender perennial," some varieties are hardy (will survive
outside in the winter) to zone 7 US. If you routinely get winter
temperatures below 10 degrees F, you'll have to get a new one each year
(and as it is slow growing, it's probably not worth it).
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