3 Top Tips For Your Indoor Herb Gardens

Posted by John Jay Amarant on August 16, 2010

Growing herbs is a great pastime. They add to your cooking, decorate your home and are simple to grow. Lots of people believe that herbs won’t grow properly indoors. This is a long way from the truth. Many herbs will grow quite happily in a home. However, there are a few areas which need a little bit extra thought.

Below are the three commonest pit falls and the way to avoid them.

1. Sunlight. Herbs like sunlight. Try and keep your plants close to a bright window that catches a good amount of sunlight. If the herbs start to get long, weak stems then this is a sign that the indoor herb gardens craving extra sunshine. If you are unable to provide natural sunlight to your herbs then you should purchase a growlight. These are special lights which replicate sunlight and help your herbs to flourish.

2. Temperature. Nearly all of us love to be warm in winter. However our heating system dries out the air and may upset your herbs. You may possibly find that the plants flourish better with added humidity. To accomplish this you do not need to go out and buy costly humidifiers, one can simply place your herb pots near a larger bowl which you can fill with pebbles and water. As your house gets warmer then the water will evaporate and the herbs will perk up almost immediately.

3. Pests. Through the cold winter months many of the eggs laid by the pests which attack herb gardens will be killed off by the cold. With indoor herb gardens the eggs aren’t killed off and you could suddenly find that the plants are bug-ridden. If your herbs are in fairly small pots these are incredibly easy to get rid off. You should prepare a bowl of tepid water mixed with a small quantity of washing up liquid. Just turn the herb upside-down, holding the soil and roots in place within the pot and swill the leaves about in the water. This will eradicate the pest and will not have an effect on the herb. If your indoor herb gardens are in bigger pots then you will need to place the soapy water in a spray and spray the pests. This may take longer and you might want to keep an eye out for re-infestation as you are not likely to get all the eggs at once, but it’ll work just as successfully.

So with plenty of light, moisture to compensate for your central heating and a vigilant eye for pests your indoor herb gardens should before long be flourishing.

If you’re uncertain which herbs to begin with, try considering which would be the most useful in your kitchen and start with these. Through growing what you need you will soon realize the reward and enjoyment available from your indoor herb gardens.

Indoor herb gardens are a great way to enhance your cooking and your home.

Discover more about indoor herb gardens and learn essential suggestions at http://theherbbook.com

Please Tell Me What I Have To Do After Taking Cuttings Of Herbs In Order To Grow Them?

Posted by admin on July 13, 2010

Introduction
The idea here is to scarify the stem of your cutting so that there is more area in which the cutting can have the opportunity to grow roots and therefore hopefully increase your rooting success rate. You will need a sharp razor blade and a flat surface to scarify your stem.
Scarification Procedure:
The first thing you do is cut your clone at a 45-degree angle; this will expose both the inner and outer area of the stem. Now lay your cutting on a flat surface. Visualize about an inch from the cut end and place your razor blade at this point.
Gently, and with the slightest pressure, push the blade to the end removing a fine outer layer of the stem. Don’t be in a hurry – there is no going back. Gently scrape the stem with your blade until you can clearly see the internal tissue layers. You have just successfully scarified your cutting.
Cloning:
Now it is back to the regular cloning methods. Dip into your cloning gel or powder and place into rock wool, soil, water, peat pellet, or aero cloner. When dipping your stems into your preferred cloning solution, you will want to ensure that you get the very tip (remember the 45-degree angle cut) and the length, which you have scarred. I have used cloning powder for demonstration purposes so you can easily see where I have applied the powder to the cutting.
Rooting:
This last image shows a successfully rooted clone that has used this simple scarification method. As you can see there are roots that have emerged from the full length of the scarring and not just from the bottom. This will give your newly rooted plant a much better survival and initial growth rate.
This method is also very useful for hard to clone cuttings and woody cuts which do not take to rooting easily. It is also a good method to practice at all times and in general it greatly increases rooting success and shortens rooting time. Other tips that one can use for those stubborn cuttings are to cut the bottom of your stem into quadrants to expose more surface area. One could also scarify two or three sides of the stem as opposed to the one side illustrated here to really give an advantage to those stubborn cuttings that will just not take. Just remember when scarifying more than one surface it becomes crucial that removing too much material off any one surface will ensure failure.
Some plants which generally take around 8 to 10 days to root, once applying this method, it is not uncommon to have roots after 5 or 6 days.
One last tip, I like to soak my new cuts in a glass of cool tap water for 15-20 minutes before preparing them to root. The chlorine in the water will kill any bacteria present and the cool oxygen filled water will be absorbed by the plant, giving it lots of reserve strength to push out those roots.
Good luck and happy rooting!