Most annuals are started from seed sown in the garden. As for biennials, you may grow them just as you do annuals. You can buy many varieties of herb seed at your seed store, nursery or supermarket, but you cannot always be sure of what you are getting. For example, tarragon may be in the seed rack but it is not a true tarragon and is hardly worth planting. True tarragon does not set seed in this country, so it is necessary to buy plants. Then there is basil. I bought “sweet basil” and got the “great ocimum sweet basil.” Later, I bought another packet with the same label, same brand. It turned out to be “small ocimum bush basil.” Now I save and plant my own basil seeds, so I can be sure what variety I’m planting. But don’t worry. Except for tarragon and basil, commercially packaged seeds are reliable
Mix small seeds like those of marjoram or thyme with fine sand so that they can be distributed uniformly. This is not necessary for larger seeds. No matter where you are planting, always soak slow-germinating seeds in warm water for several hours or overnight. You will learn which are slow-germinating by reading the instructions on the seed packets.
Most of the seeds are so tiny that I broadcast, or scatter, them within the bounds of the lines that I have drawn in the soil. Sometimes I make shallow furrows with a finger tip or twig and space the seeds in these as well as I can. Herbs will come up fairly thickly, and that is fine. One of the many delightful things about herbs is that they have flavor practically from the moment that they stick their little tips through the ground. You can use them as soon as they are large enough to thin out.
After sowing, take a handful of crumbled soil and sprinkle it very lightly over the fine seeds. One-sixteenth of an inch is deep enough for small ones, but the larger seeds may be covered a bit deeper. Moisten the ground lightly to keep the seeds in place. Wooden stakes about a foot high should be put at intervals along the rows or around the edges of the beds to hold sheets of heavy plastic above the tender seedlings. The plastic canopies will protect the new plants from hard rains. When the weather is fine, it is a good idea to remove the plastic overnight to help the tiny plants toughen. When the seedlings are well started, remove the plastic permanently. Seeds, and later, seedlings should be watered only when the soil seems quite dry.
Planting in Flats, Pots or Boxes
Herbs are like people. They need light and air, food and water, a little attention, but not too much coddling. Some must be started indoors, chiefly because in most parts of the country the growing season is rather short. Perennials are better started indoors in cold frames or flats from either seeds or cuttings, and the plants set in the garden in late spring. But if you prefer, you can buy young plants at a nursery.
There are a few things which you will need to know about starting seeds in flats, pots or boxes. To me this is the only tedious part of herb growing, and come March, I’m envious of those who live in sunny climes. Still, if you want more than a half a dozen varieties of herbs, you must learn to cultivate seedlings.
As for seed planters, you don’t have to buy a thing. Berry and other small fruit or vegetable boxes lined with foil, coffee cans, milk cartons cut crosswise—all are excellent for raising seedlings. Small flats are much more convenient to handle and store than are larger ones. Now on the market are excellent small portable greenhouses for starting seedlings. They control the humidity and temperature and act as neat and dependable baby sitters for your tiny seedlings A good standard seeding mixture consists of 2 parts of good garden loam, 1 part leaf mold or peat moss, and 1 part sharp sand. Since herbs need an alkaline mixture, 1 quart of ground limestone or well-crushed plaster, 1 pint of bone meal and 2 quarts of well-rotted manure should be added to each bushel of the mixture. If you do not wish to make up this mixture, peat moss or sterile vermiculíte mixed with a little sand is especially good. Be sure you wet the vermiculite mixture thoroughly. Fill each container for seeds within a half inch of the top.
Sow seeds on the surface and then cover with a thin layer of dirt or sand. Punch a few holes in a piece of clear plastic and cover the containers. The ventilated plastic bags in which oranges and potatoes are packed make good coverings, and you can slip a whole flat inside of one of them.. Try this for a miniature hothouse. It isn’t my original idea; I saw it at a flower show, and adopted it. You start with a gallon vinegar or cider jug. Cut off the bottom—you know how, with a string wrapped around, set afire, and plunged into cold water. Put the jug over the can or box of newly planted seeds. Leave the lid off the jug for circulation of air.
For fine seed, moisten the soil well and press down evenly in pots or flats with a small board or brick. Make shallow depressions with the edge of a thin board or ruler and sift the seeds thinly into the grooves. Press them down with a board and cover very thinly with fine sand. Plastic bags or the jug hothouse will prevent the seeds from drying out before germination begins. However, if the soil does dry out, put the flats or pots into water up to half their height until thoroughly moistened. The water should be absorbed upward from the bottom so that the seeds will not be disturbed. If only the top of the earth seems dry, water lightly. Do not let the soil get soaking wet. For spraying the seeds and later for watering the seedlings, a clothes sprinkling bottle is ideal.
Feed the seedlings sparingly with liquid fertilizer when they begin to sprout. After you have transferred them to larger pots or outdoors, a feeding once every two weeks will be sufficient.
Seeds will not need light until they poke their little noses above the surface of the earth. When this happens, give them a warm window in which to grow. Temperature should be from 60° to 70° Fahrenheit until the seeds sprout, then 55° to 65° is best. Seedlings need fresh air too so leave a window near the boxes open a crack. You will have to watch the temperature carefully. If the new plants get too much sun, move the planters back from the window a little. On the other hand, if the sprouts seem spindly, they probably are not getting enough light. Be sure to turn the containers every day or so to keep the plants from growing lopsided. You can use fluorescent or incandescent lighting if necessary. If you use artificial lights, however, do not leave them on for longer than 14tol6 hours a day as most plants need a period of darkness.
“Damping-off” is the greatest hazard in growing seedlings. This fungus disease attacks the stems of young seedlings just where they emerge from the earth, and causes them to rot and break off. It is caused by too much moisture.
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