Herb Garden Seed
Here's how to start seed easily and quickly so you can have baskets full of culinary herbs for your kitchen.
Soil
You'd think soil would be easy wouldn't you ? It is if you use an artificial soil mix with no real garden soil in it. This is sterile, doesn't contain weed seed and doesnt' compact.
If you want to use a starting soil that contains real soil for organic purposes, then let me suggest you fill your the pot you're going to use for the seeds with the soil and then slowly, ever so slowly, pour a kettle of boiling water over the soil until hot water is freely running out the bottom. This will eliminate most weeds and pathogens.
Containers
I personally use 4-inch flower pots for much of my herb garden seed. But I know there are quite a few other systems available including commercial cell-pack trays. The advantage of a larger pot is that they take less care and if I forget to water, the pot usually has enough moisture to carry over for the day.
On the other hand, larger pots like this do take up space.
As long as the container holds soil and doesn't deteriorate when it gets wet, it will work.
Preventing Success With Herb Garden Seed
Many gardeners do two things to hurt their chances of success.
They bury the seed too deeply. I "barely" cover the seed. For the most part, you cover seed to keep a constant supply of moisture around it - not to eliminate the light. So a very light covering is all the seed requires.
They plant seed too closely together. I try for at least one-quarter to one-half inch between seeds when I'm sowing them. This allows them to germinate and grow for several weeks without becoming overcrowded. Overcrowding (and the lack of air movement it causes) is the biggest cause of damping off (a condition where the seedling rots at ground level) I get rid of this problem before it even starts.
Soil Temperature
The major key to success with herb garden seed is to ensure the soil is kept at 70F. I use a heat mat to do this and it is a small price when compared to the commercial cost of all the plants it produces.
Without a heating system to warm the soil, your soil temperature will be approximately 10F below your room temperature. If you allow your night house temperature to go to 65F, then the seeds are sitting at 55F and many tender seed will rot rather than start at this temperature.
I also use warm water when watering my seedling trays. This really gives them a growth push and helps keep the soil warm.
After They've Started
Once an herb garden seed has germinated and has 4 true leaves (they look like the mature leaves, not the smaller first leaves) you can transplant it into its own pot or growing container to grow into a larger plant.
Treat them as any other plant at this point. See the directions on the propagation section for handling small plants.
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