Tips for Success

1.        Rosemary is difficult to grow indoors due to lack of humidity. If there is a lack of good indoor humidity, Rosemary leaves may turn black starting at the tip and dry up back to the leaf root. Then the leaf will fall off the plant. If you mist the plant, make sure there is adequate room ventilation or use a fan to dry the leaves and prevent any powdery mildew starting. Powdery mildew is a grayish white fungus.
2.       Humidity Tip -- A good way to provide humidity for your plants is to put the pot in a drain saucer or tray with about ½ inch to 1 inch of pebbles of pea gravel in the saucer. Then put some water in the saucer but not enough the plant will sit in the water. The level of the pebbles should be enough to keep the plant out of the water. As the water evaporates, it will provide a column of humidity for the plant. This procedure is especially good for growing Rosemary indoors in the winter. (This tip was from Tia at Tagawa Gardens in Aurora, CO)

You can also cut off the bottom of a ½ gallon milk carton or orange juice carton about 1/2 to 1 inch up from the bottom. Then use the cut portion to hold your gravel and water. While this container will not last forever, it is a good recycle of a throwaway. The orange juice containers usually are a bit more colorful than the milk cartons.
3.       You can cut a 2 inch piece of a 1 ¾ thick cellulose sponge and wet it then lay it among the herbs but not touching any of them. Air moving over the sponge will provide humidity around your small indoor garden.
4.      Potting Soil Tip -- Use a 50 / 50 mix of Cactus Mix and Potting soil for your herbs. Or an 8/3/2 soil, perlite and cactus soil mix. The herbs in this book are Mediterranean in origin and like well drained soil.  A good Cactus Mix has pumice or volcanic rock in it which promotes good drainage. Avoid any Cactus Mix which is mostly sand and peat moss. The peat tends to draw the water to the sides of the pot and allow it to run down the side of the pot. Also once dried out, the peat can be difficult to correctly rewet. So read the ingredients before you purchase any Cactus Mix. (See Secret 4 Growing Medium for the 8-3-2 mix. This is my preferred mix. It drains well and does not dry out quite as fast as the 50/50 cactus/potting soil mix.
5.       Repotting your Herb -- When you repot your herbs to a larger pot. Only go up 1 pot size at a time to avoid shocking the plant. Repot when the soil is just moist before watering time but not wet. After repotting, water the plant and allow it to drain thoroughly. Put the new transplant in the sun or under the grow light to force some growth and dry out the soil a bit.
6.       Pots -- Terra Cotta clay pots are better than plastic or enameled pots because they allow air to get to the roots of the plant. They also allow water to evaporate through the sides of the pot so plants will dry out faster than with plastic. But you have less chance of root rot with clay than with plastic or enameled pots that don’t breath. Soak your clay pots overnight before transplanting your herbs to avoid the pot soaking up the soil water and drying it out too fast. A 6 inch clay pot and drain saucer should be about $3 dollars or less and an 8 inch pot and saucer less than $5 dollars.
7.       Watering Tip -- If watering with tap water, allow it to stand out for a day before use. This will drive off some of the chlorine used for disinfecting the water. Or use distilled water for watering your plant.
8.      Fertilizing Tip --When using Aged Kelp or any other liquid fertilizer, dilute it to the directions. Then water your plant a bit before applying the diluted fertilizer. Watering before the fertilizer application will buffer the roots of the plant and help avoid burning the roots. (Thanks to Suzie at Tagawa Gardens for this tip.)
9.       Overwatering -- If you overwater a plant, put it in direct sunlight and let it dry out. Or directly under the grow light for at least six hours a day for a couple of days. Getting lots of light will force the plant to grow and uptake water. This should reduce the chance of root rot.
10.    If you think you may have root rot because your plant is losing leaves and looks unhappy, gently remove the plant from the pot and inspect the root ball. The roots should be whitish on the part you can see. If all you see is black dead roots, then you have a severe problem. Depending on how bad the rot is, putting the plant in the sun or under the grow light may correct the problem.
11.     Pest Control Tip -- Try mixing in some ground cinnamon with your potting soil to drive away the little buggers.
12.    Herb Harvesting Tip -- When harvesting sprigs off marjoram or thyme, only cut the top 1/3 of the sprig. This will leave enough growth to allow the plant to bush out and produce more sprigs. I cut between the leave buds so that the new leaves will come out at the base of the left over leafs. When harvesting parsley, cut the sprig at the soil level to force more growth. Rosemary, I have harvested the larger leaves by themselves and put in my rosemary dry bag. This will allow the remaining sprigs to put out new growth and become bushier and also to grow new sprigs at the top of the existing ones. When your plant is as full as you want it to be, then cut some of the top growth off for drying. But again no more than 1/3 of the total sprig.
13.    Herb Drying Tip -- You can also carefully harvest the leaves or sprigs to avoid getting any dirt on them. Then put them in a brown paper lunch bag sack. Fold over the top and put in a dry room away from light for a couple of days to a week. Every two days shake the sack a bit to ensure the herbs dry evenly. (Tip from Tia at Tagawa Gardens) (This drying method works really well and is easy to do.)
14.   Storage Tips -- See the General Storage Tips for storing your herbs. Freezing in herbed ice cubes, leaf log rolls, freezing leaves in freezer bags or storing in the fridge for up to a week for quick use.
15.    Recycled Storage Jars -- Consider using baby food jars with a screw on lid for storing your herbs. They are big enough to hold a lot of herbs. You can put a large label on them to keep out the light and they are reasonably airtight. You could also use some small jam or jelly jars with screw on lids for herb storage.

An alternative is to go to the Dollar Tree or similar store and pick up a pack of small round or square stackable containers for a $1.00. Best deal in town.