When I went to shags over christmas I asked my Sister-in-law to help me water my herbs while I was away. She is so awesome! I found my plants looking so good!
But then one week after I got back, there was an attack. I went to water them one morning and all my basil leaves were gone and the mint leaves were more than half gone! (-_-)
What was doing this?!! Usually you can see the bugs but there was nothing around that I could see. I looked some more and found the sage leaves had been eaten in patches too. Then I saw the parsley leaves, also half gone. I ran my fingers through the parsley leaves and something heavy fell — it was a huge (and by huge I mean fat!) bright green caterpillar! I was so annoyed!
I took these photos last week, which is a couple of weeks later. My husband thinks I should have added the caterpillar to dinner that night! “It has all the flavours in it already!” he said. He was joking off course.
We need to see the husband rating for that caterpillar.
We need to see the pictures of the caterpillar
you know,…
I was too busy freaking out. Didn’t really think to take a photo (-_-)
I adore ur blog ..thx to instagram i found u. I live in an apartment too can u offer tips of how u started and maintained ur herbs garden? Where do u grow them? Thx
Hello Natalie!!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
I grow the herbs in large pots. Keep the soft stem ones together and the hard stem ones together as they have different watering needs.
So basil, parsley, dhania, oregano and mint can go together.
Then lavender, sage, lemon grass, rosemary can go together in another pot
Those are the ones I’ve tried so far
If you use then a lot the soft stem ones tend to finish quickly so plant a lot. But they also grow pretty fast so you can rotate. Start with just two maybe and then switch one to something else every three months or so.
Mix your soil with manure/mbolea fertiliser a little bit, and then with some sand. I’d say once you’ve mixed in the mbolea, separate the amount that would fit into the pot you are using, then replace 1/4 of it with sand. This will help it drain well when you water the plants, otherwise the soil gets waterlogged and that could kill the plants (leaves start turning black)
Hope this will help you get started (^_^)
I’m in the process of replanting my pots,… starting over with the soft stem herbs
Thank u for ur reply!!! can I ask a very stupid question, I have seen seeds for Dhania, but where do u get the rest? As in are they baby plants or seeds 🙂 am a gardening newbie but i LOVE my herbs and ur blog has really inspired me 🙂
Not a stupid question at all!
I had to do a lot of searching to find them.
Lavender, rosemary, oregano, lemon grass, basil and sage I got as baby plants, from the guys that set up by the road side, I had to stop at several, not all of them stock herbs and when they do they only do one or two.
For basil, based on my experience, I would get seeds as well. If you buy the plant you’ll use it up in no time if you like basil as much as I do. But I haven’t been able to find someone that sells basil seeds yet.
For the mint, I got cuttings from someone, rooted in water then planted. Some people keep mint and rosemary in their gardens, ask for cuttings (^_^)
Parsley and dhania you can get as seeds.