Growing Guides ·
Do You Pick Mint From the Top or the Bottom?
Pick from the top, just above a pair of leaves. Cutting the growing tip makes mint branch into two stems — taking lower leaves does the opposite.
Herbs
30 guides in Growing Guides.
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How to Grow Basil: Pinch It Early, Pinch It Often
Basil is easy to grow and easy to lose to one mistake — letting it flower. How to sow it, where to put it, and the pinching routine that keeps it producing.
Growing Guides ·
How to Grow Tarragon: French or Russian Makes the Difference
French tarragon has the flavour and cannot be grown from seed. If a packet offers tarragon seed, it is Russian — and Russian is close to tasteless.
Growing Guides ·
What Herbs Grow Well Together in the Same Container
Group herbs by what they want, not by what you cook with. Mediterranean herbs in one pot, thirsty soft herbs in another, and mint always alone.
Growing Guides ·
Does Mint Need Full Sun? Part Shade Grows Better Leaves
Mint tolerates full sun but prefers four to six hours with afternoon shade. Full sun gives more essential oil and smaller, tougher leaves. Which you want.
Growing Guides ·
How Often to Water Rosemary: Less Than You Think
In the ground, almost never once established. In a pot, when the top inch is dry — and the needles lie about thirst until it is too late.
Growing Guides ·
How to Cut Rosemary: Where to Cut So It Grows Back Bushy
Cut above a leaf node in the green growth, never into bare brown wood. Old rosemary will not resprout from it — which is how plants get killed.
Growing Guides ·
How to Grow Oregano: Poor Soil and Full Sun Make It Taste
Oregano grown rich and wet is bland. Lean soil, full sun and sparse water concentrate the oils — and it comes back every year once established.
Growing Guides ·
How to Grow Sage: Sun, Grit and Almost No Water
Sage dies from wet feet, not cold. Lean free-draining soil, full sun, no feed — and replace the plant every four or five years before it goes woody.
Growing Guides ·
How to Grow Thyme: The Hardest Herb to Kill, If It Drains
Thyme wants gravel, sun and neglect. It survives drought and frost easily and dies in wet clay — which is the only real decision you have to make.
Growing Guides ·
How to Plant Basil: Warmth First, and Pinch From Week Three
Basil sulks below 10°C and rots in cold wet soil. Wait for warmth, plant shallow, and start pinching early — that is what makes it bushy.
Growing Guides ·
How to Prune Cilantro: Cutting Outer Stems Delays Bolting
Take outer stems at the base, never the centre. It buys a few weeks — but cilantro bolts on day length, so succession sowing is the real answer.
Growing Guides ·
Is Chamomile a Perennial? Two Plants, Two Answers
Roman chamomile is a perennial that spreads; German chamomile is an annual that self-seeds. Both come back — by completely different mechanisms.
Growing Guides ·
Does Dill Come Back Every Year? It Self-Seeds Instead
Dill is an annual and dies after flowering — but it seeds so freely that a patch returns on its own if you let one plant set seed.
Growing Guides ·
What to Do With Lavender Leaves: Six Uses, One Caution
Lavender leaves are usable year-round and stronger than the flowers — good for infusing, drying and repelling moths, but harsh used like a herb.
Growing Guides ·
Does Basil Need Direct Sunlight? Yes — Six Hours Minimum
Basil wants six to eight hours of direct sun, with afternoon shade in hot climates. What leggy, pale or scorched leaves are each telling you.
Growing Guides ·
Can Rosemary Grow in Shade? It Survives, It Does Not Thrive
Rosemary needs six to eight hours of sun. In shade it gets leggy, loses flavour and rots at the roots — plus the shadiest spot it will tolerate.
Growing Guides ·
Butterfly Pea Flower: Growing It and Using the Blue
A tender vine grown for blue flowers that turn tea purple with lemon. Trellis, heat, seed soaking, and how to grow it where winters are cold.
Growing Guides ·
Creeping Thyme: Planting, Spacing and Foot Traffic
Creeping thyme is a drought-tolerant lawn alternative that flowers for bees and takes light footfall. Which species to buy, spacing, and where it fails.
Growing Guides ·
How to Dry Oregano (And Why It Beats Fresh)
Oregano is one of the few herbs that genuinely improves dried. Cut before flowering, hang it somewhere dark, and leave the leaves whole until you cook.
Growing Guides ·
How to Prune Bee Balm for More Flowers and Less Mildew
Bee balm needs thinning in spring, the Chelsea chop in late May, and deadheading through summer. The cuts that prevent powdery mildew rather than treat it.
Growing Guides ·
When Does Lavender Flower? Timing by Type and Age
English lavender flowers once in early summer; French and Spanish types repeat from spring to autumn. Why a young plant or a hard prune delays everything.
Growing Guides ·
How to Propagate Lavender From Cuttings (Free Plants)
Semi-ripe cuttings in summer root in three to six weeks with no special equipment. Which stems to take, why gritty compost matters, and what not to do.
Growing Guides ·
How to Grow Parsley: Slow Seed, Long Season
Parsley germinates in three to four weeks and tests everyone's patience. Soaking, why it resents transplanting, and what to do when it bolts in year two.
Growing Guides ·
How to Grow Mint Without It Taking Over the Garden
Mint spreads by runners just under the surface and will colonise a bed in two seasons. Containment that actually works, and the pruning that keeps leaves tender.
Growing Guides ·
How to Grow Rosemary: Drainage First, Water Almost Never
Rosemary is killed by wet roots far more often than by cold. Soil, siting, the pruning rule that avoids dead patches, and overwintering in a cold climate.
Growing Guides ·
How to Harvest Basil So the Plant Gets Bushier
Cut above a leaf pair, never strip the bottom leaves, and pinch the flowers. The harvesting method that doubles the size of a basil plant instead of ending it.
Growing Guides ·
How to Prune Lavender — 3 Cuts, Never Into Old Wood
How to prune lavender: cut back into green growth, never old wood. 3 tools cover the main cut and the shaping. See which you already own.
Growing Guides ·
How to Grow Cilantro Without It Bolting in Three Weeks
Cilantro bolts on heat and day length and nothing stops it, so the answer is succession sowing. Direct sowing, why it hates transplanting, and the seed crop.
Growing Guides ·
How to Grow Lavender: Drainage, Sun, and Almost Nothing Else
Lavender dies of wet feet and kindness, not cold. Which species suits your winter, why you plant it in poor soil, and the spacing that prevents rot.
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