ALLOTMENT & GARDEN
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Herbs that last outside, year after year:
This can be grown from seed at any time during the year. Start the seeds off indoors and you can leave them inside or plant them out. If you plant them outside, do it during the spring/early summer months.
There are many varieties to try, and again these are super-easy to grow from seed. They take a while to become a good-sized bush, but if you grow from seed indoors in the spring, by the next year you’ll have a great plant which will keep you in constant supply for years.
There are tonnes of varieties of mint. It grows like crazy and spreads all over the place if you plant it in your garden, so I recommend keeping it in a pot. If you know anyone with a mint plant, just cut off a few stems and pop them in a glass with water, wait for some roots to show then put it in a pot. You’ll have a pot full of mint in no time.
Rosemary can be pretty tricky to grow from scratch, so I would recommend going to the garden centre for this one. On the plus side, once you have a plant it will grow as big as you let it and will last forever.
Another easy one to sow from seed. Sow indoors from March to May and outdoors around May to June. It takes a couple of months for a good amount of growth to appear, but this will establish a good, strong, healthy plant.
Herbs that only last a year:
These herbs are a bit more tender, not hardy like the ones above, so once you’ve cut off the leaves you want to harvest, the plant is pretty much done and ready for the compost. You can sow seeds and harvest these herbs all year round if they are indoors, but if you plant them outdoors they’re likely to die during cold weather.
I have a love/hate relationship with growing basil. This year I’ve tried to grow successively, so every two weeks I sow another pot of basil to keep us in a constant supply of leaves. I’m not going to lie, buying a 49p pot of basil from Lidl is probably more cost-effective, but I reckon my basil tastes and looks better.
Grow from seed all year round indoors. They are sooooo slow to germinate in the colder months, but in the spring/summer you’ll see the seedlings pop up pretty quickly.
These are both easy to grow and can be sown all year round indoors. Maybe plant a pot every month if you use a lot of herbs in your cooking.
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