Growing Herbs

As I had mentioned in my previous post, I am writing a detailed post as to how I planted my herbs this time round.

I used decent sized pots as I didn't want to replant them. I bought basil and mint seeds. For coriander, I used the seeds from my pantry. I soaked them for around 12 hours and crushed them between my palms before planting them.

I bought a big bag of Miracle Grow all purpose compost. It has fertilizer that feeds the plants for 3 months. I also got potting grit. I mixed the compost and grit in the ratio of 1:1 and filled the pots till about an inch from top.

Then I poured water so it sinks in. I planted the seeds – taking care to space them properly. I covered the seeds with some more compost and lightly watered the top. Don’t use a gush of water here as this might displace the seeds.

I then put cling film on top of the pots to maintain the warm temperature needed to propagate. Once I saw quiet a few saplings, I removed the cling film so the plants can breathe and grow. Now they are growing quiet well.

You can use perlite instead of potting grit. The place I went to had potting grit. They didn't have perlite. This is mainly for drainage and aeration for the roots so there's no water clogging. I hadn't done this last time and my mint plant was infested with fungus gnats. I had to completely dry the soil to get rid of them.

Water the plants only when you find the top soil relatively dry. This way, there's no danger of over watering the plant - which will lead to water clogging.

Its been 3 weeks since I planted my herbs. Look at the stage they are in now.

Basil - overcrowded again

Mint - slow as usual

Coriander - doesn't it look beautiful???

As you can see, I think Coriander will be the first herb that I use. When I read on the net, they said to wait till its about 6 inches tall to start using it. I am supposed to cut the top 3 inches to encourage more growth. That seems pretty straight forward.

I also read on how to harvest the Basil. It's a bit confusing. I think I'll see something on you tube regarding this.

I haven't even thought about harvesting mint. Its so slow.

One thing's for sure – from my previous experience, the taste of store bought herbs is no where near the home grown ones.

Good to know

1. Almost each seed grows into a plant. So its very very important to space them properly. Some seeds are very tiny and difficult to handle, but its very important to space them.
2. For coriander, each seed sprouted into 2 or more plants.
3. Coriander has a long tap root. So its important to plant it in a long pot.
4. The first set of leaves that come out are not of the actual plant. I call them base leaves
5. Its always good to read up on the plant you want to plant. I hadn't done that the first time round and I realised that much later.

I'll let you know when I start using my herbs.

BTW, I've planted some sunflower seeds last weekend. The weather's supposed to be bad this weekend. If its not too bad, I plan to do some more gardening.

I guess the gardening bug has bitten me... I am not complaining. :-)

This goes to Kirthi's Herbs and Flowers in my Platter - Coriander leaves/Cilantro that was started by PJ of Seduce your Tastebuds.

Spring's Here & Herb update

Yeah... Spring's here. Though its cloudy, windy, gloomy and raining most of the time, the temperature's quiet pleasant. Sun does peep out towards evening most of the days. When the sun comes out, it feels its summer. Its been so good.

My herbs are doing well. I remember my second batch of Coriander in September last year couldn't stand on its own. Though the leaves did come out, the stems were too weak and it was falling into the pot. That's not the case now.

The stems are strong enough and Coriander is growing steadily. The base leaves have come out for all and the actual Coriander Leaves are coming out on atleast 5 to 6 plants. It shouldn't be too long before I start using it...

My basil as usual was the first to sprout. That also just has the initial base leaves but I can see teeny weeny basil leaves forming on most saplings. When I bought the Basil seeds, P asked if we actually need Basil plant as I don't make much. I said I want to try out so many recipes and the Basil from the supermarket is not very fresh most of the time. Any suggestions to recipes using Basil are welcome.

As usual Mint was the last to sprout. Its way too tiny (though the actual mint leaves are sprouting from one or two plants) and there's nothing much to write about it.

Coming weekend (if the weather permits), I plan to plant Sunflowers (for my son), Marigolds and Garlic Chives. I got these mini bio degradable pots in which I plan to propagate and take the plants outside in may / june.

But the Scottish summer is known for its untimely rain. So I might invest in a Green House. Not the sturdy building, just the "plasticky" one that has stands inside and I can zip up. If any one’s used that, please let me know how it works out. I might think of a cold frame as well. That's more sturdy.

I'll write another post with detailing how I planted my herbs this time round. It's a bit different from last time.

Until next time, I leave you with the photos of my growing herbs. BTW, we've put our garden furniture out. I hope the summer is good for us with less rain.

Kothimir Pachadi / Coriander Chutney

Our Asian store gets the fresh produce on Saturdays. Saturday morning is the best time to get the best of fresh vegetables. I would love to go first thing on Saturday morning, but P hates getting up in the mornings. So I always end up going from afternoon. The selection by then is not so bad. But the best stuff would’ve gone away.

Last week, during my "almost weekly" trips to the store, I found very good Coriander / Cilantro. It was fresh, green and telling me to take it home. Normally, I would have bought 1 bunch and gone. But this time, I took home 3 bunches.

When I got home, I washed, chopped and froze 1 bunch in ice cube trays. Another bunch, I washed, chopped, wrapped in a tea towel, put it in an air tight container and put it in the fridge.

Then I called up my pinni (mom's sister) and asked her how to make Kothimir pachadi and made it. It was then that I realised that its not so difficult to make pachadis / chutneys. I have never tried making and it wasn’t that difficult.

It is a little time consuming. Otherwise, its quiet easy.

Ingredients:
1 big bunch of Coriander – washed and chopped (I used leaves and stems)
2 tsp Coriander Seeds
2 tsp Cumin Seeds
10 Red Chillies
1 tsp Tamarind Concentrate
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

For tempering:
2 tsp Chana Dal
1 tsp Split Urad Dal
10 - 15 Curry Leaves
2 Dry Red Chillies split in half
1 tbsp Garlic Paste / 3 Nos Garlic crushed
2 tbsp Oil

Method

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan.
2. Once the oil is hot, add the Coriander Seeds, Cumin Seeds and Dry Red Chillies (10) and fry till they are golden brown.
3. Take it off heat and cool and grind it to a powder in a mixie.
4. In the same pan, add the other tbsp oil and add the Coriander leaves and fry till they wilt. If the stems are a little thick, add the stems and fry for some time before adding the leaves.
5. Once the coriander leaves wilt, remove from heat, cool and grind it along with the above powder to a paste. I did not make it a smooth paste. The texture depends
6. In a separate pan, add to tbsp oil and do the tempering in the order given under "For tempering"
7. Now add the tempering to the paste and mix it well.
8. Store in an air tight glass jar.
9. Serve hot with rice and ghee.

Note: Make sure you always use a clean, dry spoon when scooping out the chutney.

Another Garden Update...

I couldn’t resist myself last week. I had to pluck and taste the coriander and mint. They tasted gorgeous.

The Coriander was mild to start with but got strong in 2 seconds. And the leaves are so tender, they literally melted in my mouth. The mint wasn’t as strong as its only in the initial stages. But nevertheless, you could make out the distinct flavour.

No wonder people love growing their own vegetables. One can’t even think of comparing the taste with the store bought ones. Its amazing.

The small pot is really small for Coriander. The roots have started to come out from the hole that’s meant for drainage. I think I’ll chop it this weekend. I am not expecting any more crop from the small pot. The Coriander in the big pot has started to grow the main coriander leaves. But the stems are really weak. We haven’t been getting sunshine for a few days now and its quiet cold as well. So the growth also has been really slow. I might give the stems support this weekend.

As I told last week, the Basil survived the re-potting and seems to be doing pretty well. The third set of leaves are quiet obvious now. I just realised that the first set of leaves are not the actual basil leaves. So the set of leaves coming up now are actually the second set of leaves. Again, the growth is not so much as the its getting cold and the light is literally non-existent from a few days.

Some of the mint saplings have about 6 sets of leaves now. So they are growing quiet steadily.

Since the growth of all the plants is so slow, I might not give a garden update for some more time. Now, I am not even sure if the plants will survive the winter.

On the whole, the experience is great. I hope the plants survive the winter. But even if they don’t, I will definitely start growing them again in spring as I now know that I can grow my own (even if its only herbs).

I think I’ll read about artificial light and try it if its not too much to bother with.

Garden Update

Hi Guys...

Here's a quick update on my herbs garden. FYI, this is my first attempt at gardening and you can read all about it here.

Coriander in the small pot is flourishing. I've read online that I can’t pluck from it till its about 4 to 6 inches in height. So hopefully, in about 2 weeks, I should be able to use it.

Coriander in the big pot has started to sprout and it has the 2 base leaves. Hopefully, in 6 to 8 weeks time, I'll be able to start using it.

Mint is coming up slowly. It must be getting it roots strong. No wonder it can take over your whole garden if you plant it outside a pot.

My Basil has survived re-potting. Yes... The second pair of leaves are getting big. I can see the third pair of leaves starting on a few plants. Waiting for four sets of leaves. I can start using it then.

No photos this time. I'll post photos when there's a substantial difference from the previous photos.

Till next week... ta ta...

My First Take on Gardening

From the time we moved into our own house about 3 years ago, I’ve wanted to grow my own herbs (mainly Mint and Coriander). But things never worked out. I was too busy juggling between my baby and work to do or think anything else.

The thought came back to me in August. It was late summer. With autumn closing in, I wasn’t sure if the plants will grow. After much deliberation, I decided to give it a shot. I roped in another couple to try it out. We met on a Saturday at our house and had lunch. When V went to sleep, I stayed at home and my husband and our friends went to the garden centre and got pots, compost and seeds needed.

We planted Mint, Coriander and Basil in tiny (7 cm) pots. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. And the results were beautiful.

I could see the Basil sprout within a week. In the second week, I saw the Coriander sprouting. Mint took another week to show up.

Here’s what I did – Take the pots, fill it with compost, leaving about an inch or so from top. Wet the compost thoroughly with water so it sinks in. Place the seeds and pat them so they stay firm. Now sprinkle about 1/4th inch compost again and water it using a watering can (the one that sprinkles water – not the one that pours) or sprinkle water with hand. Do not pour water as this will displace the seeds and might bring the seeds to the top which will stop the germination process. Cover the pots with cling film / plastic cover to maintain the temperature for the germination. Do not let the soil dry. Keep sprinkling water. You can remove the cling film once you start seeing leaves. Try to put them in a sunny spot as much as possible once they start producing leaves.

I used Miracle Grow Moisture Control Compost.

I hadn’t done my home work well, so I made a mistake of starting in small pots. You need bigger pots to grow the herbs.

Coriander needs a long pot to grow. Apparently its roots are quiet long. And it doesn’t re-pot very well. So I left the small pot as it is and sowed some new seeds in a bigger pot about 5 days ago. They’ll take time to sprout.

Because Basil seeds are so small, I planted half the packet in a small pot. I think each seed sprouted, so I had a pot full of Basil saplings. I had to re pot a few and throw the rest. I felt really sad to throw. But I had no option. I re-potted the saplings in a bigger pot. I hope I did it correctly and my Basil will come up. Its only been a week, so its too early to tell. If the plant doesn’t grow, I’ll put about 15 to 20 seeds in the big pot and try to grow it again from scratch.

If Basil seeds are small, Mint seeds are even smaller. So I put the whole packet into the small pot. As of now, not many Mint sprouts have come out. So it seems ok. But because Mint grows well, I’ll need to re-pot it into a bigger pot in a few weeks time. Hopefully, it’ll survive the re-potting session.

I’ll let you know how my herbs get on. Till then, I’ll leave you with some photos…

My Basil saplings in their new pot on Sept 9th, 2010

My Coriander plant on Sept 9th, 2010

My Mint sprouts on Sept 9th, 2010