Hi, I'm new to gardening, and I'm new to this forum. I'm writing because I have a question about overcrowding potted herbs, and how I should deal with it. However, being new here, I feel that I should introduce myself and my setup beforehand. I've always liked plants and gardens, but I've never given any serious effort to growing them. All my adult life, I've lived in apartments with no outside space to grow them. I've attempted a few hardy indoor potted plants, but their incredibly slow growth and complete lack of purpose has never kept my interest. Also, I live in a pretty cold place. According to the "Plant Hardiness Zones of Canada 2000", I live on the boundary of zones 3 and 4, with 3a, 3b, 4a and 4b all being found within a few kilometers of where I am. I understand that the last frost may be as late as May 31st, and that the usual planting date is around June 1st. I don't have any south-facing windows, nor any windows that receive any significant amount of sunlight. This is why I decided to grow under lights - fluorescent lights. I'm hoping to keep a number of plants under lights year-round, but during the summer I have access to an outdoor garden. Last frost is still three months away, though. I decided to grow various herbs. The first six herbs I got were Coriander, Oregano, Thyme, Basil, Parsley and Chives. I started the first batch about a month ago. When the first batch of seedlings overgrew their tiny starter pots, I transplanted them into various containers. Some went in 4" green plastic pots, and the others went into a bigger 30"Lx10"Wx7"D rectangular plastic container. Those that went in the 4" pots aren't faring as well as the ones that went in the big container. Their substrate dries out really quickly, and some of the lower leaves are yellowing. The leaves aren't as crisp as those in the big container. I'm not sure if this is due to over-watering or to under-fertilizing. Anyway, I'll try various things and hopefully they'll get better. My main worry is with herbs in the big container. They're all doing really well, especially compared to the potted ones. The leaves are greener, they are growing faster, there is no yellowing... But the container is getting crowded, and it's going to get much worse over time. Oh, I'm using "Pro-Mix for Seeding and Planting" with a bottom layer of aquarium gravel for drainage. I only have limited space in which to grow these plants, and I think I arranged them too close to one another. And I have no idea what's going to happen. There is no separation between the plants, so the roots are probably going to become intertwined. I fear that the bigger plants, like the basil, are going to choke the smaller ones. I was hoping to transplant some outside in early June, after last frost - but that leaves me with 3 months to go, and I expect that the plants will have grown much larger by then. I fear that once the roots have had three months to spread, it will be impossible to separate the plants without killing them - if they haven't killed one another beforehand. I'm not sure what to do. Maybe I could drive some sort of plastic separator sheets in the ground between the plants, in order to contain their roots. Or maybe I just leave them as they are and see what happens. Care to make any predictions? I appreciate any feedback and suggestions you give me. Thanks!
I think you have a point about the basil interfering with the smaller herbs in the large container. I would probably move the other herbs to a different container and keep the large container for the basil - maybe put the potted basil plants in where the other herbs came out. Best to get this done sooner than later :o) I can understand your idea about separating the ground between the roots and that is a good idea but if the plants are of different sizes and vigor, you will still have problems with light, air circulation, etc. Best to use this system (corraling the roots) to containers where the plants are of similar size. When you move this smaller herbs out of the large container to another one, this would be a good time to put your soil dividers in. I usually use cut up milk cartons for this, and it is easily discarded in the compost when the plants are transplanted outside. Anne
