Ordering your Herb Plants from an Online Herb Supplier

Spring is Approaching fast!

 Things to Consider for Spring

• Germinating Your Own Herb Seeds

• Ordering Potted Herb Plants

• Controlling Garden Pests

• Composting - Using Compost

• Drying and Storing Your Herbs

• Soil Fertility - Soil Testing Your Herb Garden Soil

• How the Changing Weather Will Affect Your Herb Garden

Weigh the benefits and cost of seed starting compared to ordering potted herb plants from a reputable herb plant supplier.

There are two ways to arrive at the day that we carry our fresh and tender new herb plants to our awaiting herb garden. Both are logical steps to a successful herb garden. Moreover, it is true that when the harvest rolls in, one plan is as good as the other.

Starting your herb plants from seed is possibly the most rewarding from a pure gardening perspective. That is, if you have the time, space, patience and the extra money to invest. The effort and expense needed to start your own herb seeds or to simply order herb plants is vastly different when comparing the two.

To start seeds you may start as early as November to organize a workbench and prepare your list of needed seeds. Next, spent a few hundred dollars on supplies and fixtures such as:

1. Quality grow lights

2. Seed germinating heat mats

3. Seed starting and growing soil mixes

4. Seed flats and a variety of growing pots

5. An assortment of your favorite seeds

6. Fertilizer, sprayer bottles, etc., etc., etc.

After planting in February or March, followed by six or eight weeks of daily tending you finally collect the herb seedlings that have survived your efforts and harden them off for planting.

See our article at http://www.growing-herbs.com/germinating_seeds.htm

For many lacking the time, space, energy, skill, or patience, ordering potted herbs is simpler than germinating your own herb seeds.

1. Your herb plants arrive

2. Remove them from the box

3. Give them a good watering

4. Let them rest a day or two to adjust to the surroundings

5. Harden off

6. Plant them in your herb garden.

Personally, we love to process of starting our herb seeds early. It adds 2-3 months to the gardening season, and being from the snowy plains of Eastern Iowa we need all of the growing season that can be had!

Even with our heated greenhouse, though, we have found that many herbs are still best ordered as started plants from the professionals. Learning from experience we found that some popular herbs are next to impossible to grow from seed. Passionflower is an example of a very popular herb best ordered as a seedling. Many of the Rosemary varieties, the mints and Tarragons are other good examples.

Hardening off your Herb Seedlings

When your herb plants arrive, if nature has cooperated, the outdoor weather will be warm, the gardening season will have begun, and transplanting your herb plant seedlings to the garden can begin — but only after a period of hardening-off. Tender seedlings grown indoors need to be acclimated to the direct sun, winds, and changing temperatures. For most herbs this process should be performed a few days up to two weeks before planting in the garden.

When weather is warm and settled, and nighttime temperatures average around 50 degrees F, set your seedling containers outdoors in a lightly shaded and sheltered location. Gradually increase the time outdoors until seedlings spend a half day, then a full 24 hours outside. Keep the seedlings well-watered and protected from winds. Begin with just a few hours of direct sun and increase to a half, then several full days in the sun before transplanting seedlings to their permanent garden position.

Transplanting Your Herb Plants

After seedlings are hardened off, the most satisfying ritual arrives: transplanting the herb plants into your herb garden. To make the adjustment as mild as possible for the plants, pick a late afternoon or overcast day. With the herbs neither too moist nor too dry, carefully remove the plants from their seed flats or pots. Dig the hole in your herb garden about twice as large as the soil mass around the roots. Fill the hole with water and let it soak in. Pick plants up very gently by their stems, trying to keep soil around roots as intact as possible. Set each plant in the prepared hole, up to its first true leaves and press the soil firmly around it. Water it well to get rid of air pockets and assure good root-to-earth contact.

Thomas Kueny, Publisher - http://www.growing-herbs.com