I know this comes up from time to time..

Thinking of growing several herbs in pots (elongated trays about 8inch tall, 8inch wide and 1 1/2 foot long,

What would be the best set up ? Small stones at the bottom ? if so how much ? drain holes drilled in the side under the level of the stones ? above the level of the stones ? or drilled in the bottom (which would mean the water would drain out completely? ) ?

Then what sort of soil ? thinking bagged types in B&Q type places, potting compost ? multipurpose ? grow bags ? etc...

then on top sharp stones to try to keep slugs away ?

thanks for any help

Steve

Steve, you might find this useful; apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=142 and apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=639

thanks Mamta, why can it never be just straight forward... lol

Steve

Steve: I plant herbs in the window box, with no drainage at all.

I do basil and parsley each year, but not mint, since it grows wild here, and not coriander, cos I've never had any success with it, despite all the tips offered here!

Phil

Sorry, Steve: when I said no drainage at all, I was thinking of stones: our windowbox has has holes in the bottom. Basil needs lots of water, but needs to drain, I think.

Phil

Cheers Phil

we went and got some stones and packs of grow anything soil...

Steve: I use multi-purpose too. Works fine, at least for parsley and basil.

I first started with flowerpots on the ground, under the shade of a tree. Much snail/slug damage, so I transplanted the parsley to a windowbox, but still had baby snails, perhaps because they were in the transplanted compost. No snails since.

We use the parsley only in emergencies, since French grocery shops have this lovely tradition of offering you a bunch of flat-leaf parsley for free! It's only when we've run out of this that we resort to the windowbox.

I put slug pellets under the irises each year, but I'm reluctant to put anything poisonous near things I cook with. Perhaps the old-fashioned glass of beer? They drown, but they ain't feelin' no pain, man!

Phil

I mix potting soil with sharp builders sand, 2 parts soil to one of sand or even 50-50, most herbs like free-draining, dry, starved soil. Basil I think likes free-draining water-retaining soil, I keep pots of supermarket basil alive for weeks with a tray of water underneath.

That said, last year was a disaster for most of the shrubby herbs, they all drowned in the soggy soil and a record number of slugs ate any emerging seedling so you might prefer to ignore all that advice.

Phil I did try the beer thing the other year, all it seemed to do was get them drunk and more hungry !! lol

Steve

miss mouse, I've got basil in water on the windowsill and it does seem to do well... but other things don't ... gardening is obviously not something I'm good at... should be, would love to be, read things etc but I don't have green fingers..

thanks for your help

Steve

Yes, Basil does love water and I too manage to keep the potted ones going indefinitely, same as coriander and other herbs.

Did you know that Basil (Tulsi) is considered a Goddess in India and prayed to as such? Religious people have one in their courtyard, often in a stone or cement pot, where it lives for years as a hardy plant. The prayer ritual involves offering it a jug of water each morning. Since Tulsi/basil is a very useful medicinal plant in Ayurveda and its survival is important/useful, some clever ancestors of ours designed a prayer ritual where by it will never be short of water!!

I wonder which way that came about ?... did someone know how to keep basil growing to created the ritual to help people remember... or did someone discover that while praying to varying things and offering food/water that basil survived with daily prayer and water ?

Steve

Good question, but it is a 100s of years old practice, if not thousands, so hard to know :-0.

Steve: were those Scottish slugs, by any chance? Only kidding.

My basil lasts all summer in the windowbox, and becomes quite woody. I always buy a pot of the big-leaved ones from the ?picerie, not the ones with the tiny leaves.

I like to think that, at some deep underlying level, I'm a good gardener, but that there is little empirical evidence to support that idea.

However, I did get a great crop of little tomatoes last summer, in big pots, south-facing: went on flowering for months. I still ave a pot of Mamta's green tomato chutney in the cellar (= garage).

And the peppers were a success. No idea why the aubergines didn't work out, two years ago.

This year, i'll do a trial vegetable plot, again south facing. We'll see. But I fear the wild boar might eat the lot. I think they've found an alternative route into that plot of land. They'll eat anything, those beasts.

Phil