SEEDS AND PLANTING MATERIAL

Product Description

Plant seeds, plants, or parts Herbs may be annuals, started from seed each year, as is basil; biennials, requiring two seasons of growth, as does parsley; or perennials, which grow back year after year, like thyme. Generally, you should plant annual and biennial herbs from seed directly in the garden or in containers indoors (to transplant), or buy seedlings. (Your students can save seed produced by their herb plants for next year's crop.) You'll want to buy or get donations of perennial herb plants or propagate them from cuttings or divisions. The , below, highlights the best ways to start different herbs. Starting from seed - If you want to get a jump on the season, you can start herb seeds indoors under lights or on sunny windowsills and later transplant them to the garden. Use the same types of containers and soilless potting mix that you would use for other indoor seedlings. To encourage healthy seedlings, keep soil mix uniformly moist until seeds germinate, keep lights 3 to 6 inches above the plants, and water seedlings thoroughly when the mix is dry to the touch. Herb seeds tend to be small, so whether you're starting them indoors or in the garden, you'll plant them fairly shallowly (see seed packets for planting depths). Before you move seedlings outdoors, "harden" them off to get them accustomed to harsher outdoor conditions. Do this by setting them outside for progressively longer periods each day, starting with a few hours and increasing to a full day over the course of a week or so. Starting from plants or plant parts - You can purchase many herbs from nurseries as young plants, or dig up shoots or sections of mature perennial plants in the spring. Some herbs can also be started from stem cuttings. To do this, snip healthy stems 3 to 6 inches from the growing tip. Remove leaves from the lower half of the cutting, and plant the cutting in a soilless mix indoors or in moist sand in a shady outdoor area. Water it gently and cover the container with a plastic bag until new top growth appears. Keep cuttings out of direct sun so they don't overheat in their plastic-bag "greenhouse." How you lay out your planting will depend on the plants you choose and on your theme. Herbs, like most plants, stay healthier if there's good air circulation, so space them to allow for the mature size of each plant. (Catalogs, seed packets, and nursery containers give spacing requirements.)