Topping up the herb garden

Lots of the herbs have already been planted out, for example mint, parsley, sage, lovage, chives and tarragon. These were started off from seed earlier in the year (around March time) and were planted out towards the middle of May.

However, a couple of herbs we grow don’t take as long to grow, and tend to go to seed very quickly. Therefore, we sow them directly into their final pots later on in the season.

Therefore, today we were sowing basil and dill.

They were sown into a pot of multipurpose compost with an inch or so of seed and potting compost on top to act as a finer layer to aid the seeds to germinate. The seeds were then sprinkled over the surface of the compost and covered with vermiculite. As you can see, the basil seeds are pretty tiny, therefore these do not tend to need to be pressed gently into the surface of the compost, as the layer of vermiculite is sufficient to enable them to germinate.

As with the brassicas, the pots were then watered gently and covered with a sheet of glass and a piece of newspaper until the seedlings start to germinate.