agree with Lily re pinching off flowers, as my basils get a bit leggy and tough if the flowers stay on - that said, unless I am using them for pesto, I leave the flowers on some varieties, as the bees and butterflies love them - plus they are very beautiful to look at!
Back to non-herbs. I have a similar size and shape limestone trough. I grow Sempervivum, small sedums and silver saxifrages. A sort of dry alpine mix. Minimum maintenance.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Sorry to big bro for the plug - I get mine from Asda ! What if I bought the pot grown ones and planted them all out ? Instant herb sink !
Does that work? Are all the plants healthy?
I'm having a go, tho I did read somewhere last week that the shop ones are sown with many seeds in a pot, they are not one plant. If you look it will be pot-bound. Don't know about others but those herb plants don't last long for me, so perhaps it's a selling ploy, after all seeds are cheap and putting them all together they make a relatively 'decent' plant, which doesn't last as long as a single well grown plant. So if you do plant them up, remember to split them.
I am going to give it a whirl and makes some purchases ! Chilli lover - I like the sound of that basil - shop bought , or grown from seed or garden centre ?
I am not sure that basil would do well in your sink. It likes damp soil and warm moist air. Most of the posters seem to grow theirs in greenhouses. If we have a hot dry summer you may be disappointed. I have never managed to grow it outside. It is fairly easy to grow from seed, you would need to wait another month or two before trying supermarket plants outside as they would be too tender to plant out. They have been grown under hot house conditions.
My first thought when I read your post was an alpine garden in your sink. A few pieces of stone to create a landscape and some encrusted saxifrage, miniature narcissus bulbs etc. You may need to support a sheet of glass over it during the winter to keep off excessive rain. Year round interest with different forms and coloured foliage. Lots of books etc on Alpine Gardens. Plenty of choice in garden centres.
I grow coriander in the open garden and it grows to about 2ft tall, too big for a sink. It goes to seed more quickly of potted on and planted out than if sown where it is to grow.
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I'm going to need another sink !
agree with Lily re pinching off flowers, as my basils get a bit leggy and tough if the flowers stay on - that said, unless I am using them for pesto, I leave the flowers on some varieties, as the bees and butterflies love them - plus they are very beautiful to look at!
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
My first thought when I read your post was an alpine garden in your sink. A few pieces of stone to create a landscape and some encrusted saxifrage, miniature narcissus bulbs etc. You may need to support a sheet of glass over it during the winter to keep off excessive rain. Year round interest with different forms and coloured foliage. Lots of books etc on Alpine Gardens. Plenty of choice in garden centres.