What’s the best potting soil for growing herbs?
I want to grow herbs in the house such as Thyme, Rosemary, Basil and Sage. What’s the best potting soil to use? And, where can I order the seeds or plants to get started?
5 Responses to “What’s the best potting soil for growing herbs?”
i use Miracle Gro Potting Soil, and have had a lot of success. You may still be able to purchase plants (herbs) at a local nursery.
Rosemary grows well in regular soil. I do not know where you are writing from (location, weather, etc. I am in California and it is used as a landscape plant which requires very little care. You can buy it at Home Depot, Orchard Supply, or any stores selling plants. I found it did well in a planter, but did better in the ground. The same is true of sage–I am not sure if it needs to be a particular variety for cooking or if all varieties of sage are edible. Sage does not like a lot of water–after all it comes from the desert–so it doesn’t need maintainance. Usually you can buy seed packets in the same stores for herbs such as parseley( likes moisture) basil and the rest — on the packet of seeds it will tell you how to grow them and when to plant if they are going outside.
Best wishes for a tasty garden. One of the beauties of these plants is that they smell wonderful.
make sure its a good quality premium potting mix .it usually contains everything from coir and peat that help with water retention,it contains wettasoil so if you do forget about it and it dries out a little you can easily wet it again and not have the water bead on top or run down the sides.it has water crystals and all the trace elements.you might pay a little more for it but it is well worth it when you see the results
You can’t go wrong with miracle grow potting soil with most plants. Exceptions being cactus, succulents, orchids, and others that don’t like regular soil, but I don’t know of any herbs like that. As far as seeds, unless your like me and just like the challenge of growing from seeds the I would by the plant from walmart, home depot, lows, etc… and you can get seeds at all of these places without a huge shipping charge too.
Herbal plants used in the Ayurvedic system of medicine are facing extinction.
Definite cause of concern, as Ayurveda is increasingly being used around the world to treat various disorders such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, ulcers and many others.
Some herbs that have been identified are – Ulteria salicfolia, Hydnocarpus pentandra, Gymnocladus assamicus, and Begonia tessaricarpa.
Conservation of traditional herbs and plants should become a high priority for all. Challenge
becomes more severe as many of these herbs grow in the wild and are not cultivated.
Planet Green (a discovery.com venture) reported on this earlier this month.
More details on the Ayurveda Group blog (http://www.ayurvedagroup.com/blog)
Direct link to the blog post
http://ayurvedagroup.com/blog/2010/93-of-ayurvedas-wild-medicinal-plants-threatened-with-extinction/
Link to planet green site
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/ayurvedas-medicinal-plants-extinction.html