How to Grow and Care for 11 Common Herb Seedlings

At this moment, there is a pot of leggy parsley residing in my front window. It had been growing outside last year quite beautifully, but I brought it indoors for the winter and it’s become…well…a little spindly! Clearly it’s in need of some TLC…

In the back garden there resides a few herbs that were planted several years ago—chamomile, mint, chives and sage. Everything has been growing incredibly well back there, but unfortunately over-enthusiastic pruning may have accidentally killed the sage, so this year I started some new plants form seeds. Lesson learned, I hope!

But before we get ahead of ourselves, we have to help them to grow! Now that my seedlings have begun to sprout, it’s time to think about what each plant is going to need as it reaches maturity. So let’s get on with it!

Basil is one of those herbs that is just so delightful, especially in tomato sauces. A couple years ago I planted basil in my back garden just for this purpose. It seemed to do well, but then it died off, and I never replanted it. What I didn’t know at the time is that basil is an annual—meaning it does not come back every year. So this year there is a pot with basil seedlings on my windowsill, destined to be an indoor herb plant. I’d like to see if I can keep it alive indoors (like I did with the parsley).

Basil plants grow 12-24” tall, and basil seedlings need to be spaced 10-12” apart to give each plant space to bush out. The seeds for this plant will take 5-10 days to germinate.

You can begin pruning after about six weeks, clipping the center shoot to allow the plant to get bushy and produce more leaves. Pruning regularly—like with any herb—will force your plant to push out more leaves and keep it from flowering and going to seed too quickly. Essentially, pruning extends your harvesting season (another topic I will be covering later in this series). You can start harvesting the leaves once the plant is between 6-8” tall.

Chamomile is an incredible herb to plant in your garden, but you will need a lot of it! That won’t be a problem if you plant it outside, because chamomile is one of those plants that likes to self seed, so you could end up with a garden full of chamomile (after some time, of course) without even trying! I even found a chamomile plant growing out of a brick wall down the side of my driveway, far away from the original plant! So be aware that this plant spreads easily and could take over your garden eventually if you are not vigilant (unless that is your intention).

The chamomile plant is considered an annual—meaning it should only grow once in a year and then die off—but if it is allowed to self seed, more plants will come back the next year. Actually, let me clarify…There a couple varieties of chamomile—one is German (an annual) and one is Roman (a perennial). Both are hardy and aromatic plants that can potentially come back year over year.

Chamomile blooms in the summer, and the flowers can be harvested for tea and a myriad of other culinary uses. Picking the flowers regularly (just pluck off the sweet flower tops, not the bitter leaves) will ensure more growth and more flowers to harvest. Be sure to pick the flowers that are in full bloom with no droopy petals.

Chives are another herb plant in my back garden, and so another plant I didn’t need to start from seed this year. The chives in my garden are still going strong, even after three years now. The one thing I will need to do this year (sometime soon, as it is early spring) is to divide the clumps so I can get more yield from my plants.

The plant produces purple flowers (though not in the first year) around early summer, which I tend to let go to seed so my little patch can spread. You can start harvesting chives 60 days after seeding. Harvest by cutting small clumps a couple inches from the ground.

I already discovered that cilantro does not like to be transplanted, which is something I did last year as I transitioned the new plants outside. I also just sort of threw them outside, without going through the gradual process of “hardening” the plant, or slowly acclimated the plant to the outdoor conditions. This year I will probably keep this plant in a small pot inside, moving it outside now and then.

To harvest, cut the outer stems when the plant is at least 10-12” tall. Harvesting regularly will extend the life of the plant.

This feathery herb has me a little perplexed. I planted it from seed last year, then transplanted it outside into a garden planter. The plant came up well, but got very tall and leggy. (I’m noticing a trend here with my herbs growing long and leggy, instead of bushy.) I have yet to grow a bushy dill plant, which is what I really want. So I planted dill seeds again this year, with the intention of just growing this herb in a pot that will be mostly inside, putting it outside from time to time.

Dill—like chamomile—can self seed in the right conditions, providing you with new plants next year. (Technically this is an annual plant.) Otherwise, you can just harvest the leaves just before the plant flowers and goes to seed.

Okay, so who doesn’t love lavender plants?! For the past two years I have tried—unsuccessfully—to grow lavender from seeds. So I’m trying again this year so I can figure out where I keep going wrong. To be fair, it is said to be very difficult to grow lavender from seed, and most people just buy a young plant to get them started. But I am nothing if not stubborn…and seeds are cheaper than buying a plant!

Harvest lavender by cutting above the woody growth on the stems.

The one herb I have absolutely no problem growing is mint! I planted this in my garden a few years ago, and if I’m not careful it will take over the whole yard! Growing this plant requires some diligence. If you don’t want it to end up all over the place, strangling other plants, you’ll need to take time out—frequently—to pull runners and cull back areas that are becoming invasive.

Harvest just before the plant flowers, or when the leaves are at least 4” tall.

As previously mentioned, I have a parsley plant from last year growing in a pot on my windowsill. It’s a bit leggy (there’s that word again), but otherwise it’s growing well. I think it prefers being outside though, so maybe once the weather warms up I’ll put it out in my garden so it can grow bushier again. As for the legginess, I found some interesting information on pruning and ph levels that might help me with this problem. (My next blog on herbs will deal with harvesting, so I’ll take that opportunity to cover this topic in a little more detail.) My research seems to indicate that parsley is a biennial, so this might be its last year, and I should see it flower.

Parsley will germinate between 21-28 days and mature in 70-90 days. Plant seeds 9-12” apart in soil with a ph level of 6.0-7.0. This herb can be transplanted 5-6 weeks after sprouting, and can grow to 12-18” tall.

Harvest by cutting from the outer leaves to induce more growth and lessen the chance of bolting too early.

Rosemary—like lavender—is one of those herbs that I have been utterly unsuccessful at growing from seed…but I keep trying! I really love the smell of rosemary, and I like to use it in cooking. They say it’s a simple plant to grow and harvest, but most people go the easier route and just buy the plant, because getting a seedling to grow into a successful plant is very tricky.

This herb is drought tolerant, likes Mediterranean type conditions, is fragrant, and has blue flowers in summer. Rosemary—like sage, lavender, and thyme—likes to draw moisture from the air, so if you are growing it indoors the plant will need frequent misting. With that being said, don’t overwater the soil, but make sure it doesn’t get overly dry. In other words, only water when needed and don’t let the soil get soggy. Give it fresh soil once a year and fertilize in spring.

The leaves of this plant are so aromatic! I just love running my fingers over them to smell their gorgeous scent. I use sage in cooking, especially with chicken, and I’m experimenting with sage tea. I’ve had sage growing in my garden for three or four years now, but I may have accidentally killed the plants last year by pruning back too much in early spring. Since I wasn’t sure if the plant will come back this year, I planted new seeds for an indoor pot and my outdoor herb garden.

Sage is a perennial that can grow 2-3 feet tall, with gorgeous purple flowers in the summer. The seeds take 10-21 days to germinate. Give this herb plenty of spacing (24-36” apart) when planting, because it spreads out and gets bushy!

Like rosemary, allow the plant to just grow in the first year, and then begin harvesting in the second year.

Last year I had this pot of gorgeous fragrant bushy thyme growing quite hardily in my side yard. I wanted to preserve it over the winter, so I brought it inside in the fall. The plant grew fairly well…until about mid winter, when it suddenly crashed and then was dead. So this spring I planted more seeds…and we’ll see what happens. The plan is to have some plants for inside and some for outside, and experiment with both to see what this plant likes best.

This herb likes full sun and well drained soil. If growing indoors, it will need to be misted frequently and needs the bright sun of a windowsill.

So let’s see how this process plays itself out, and don’t forget to check back periodically to see my progress and get more tips and tricks for growing these herbs!