basil and mint?

Question

I would like to plant some basil and mint outside in my little garden. Can I do it now and where to get the seeds? Or should I wait until spring? Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

There are several different basils you can grow - a beautiful purple one with just as good a flavour as the green. It's worth looking on-line for different seed or plant sources. Mint does spread, it's true, but it also likes shady, damp places where it doesn't spread so much. If you want to grow it in the ground sink a large bucket or old flower pot with a few holes in the base and plant it in that. I think it needs more room than just growing it in a pot, but that's just my opinion. It's also fairly easy to remove as well as to grow, so it doesn't matter too much if it spreads as long as you keep an eye on it - bees love it. Another thing - there are several types of mint as well - make sure you ask for garden or culinary mint otherwise you could end up with peppermint or spearmint - I grow peppermint as well - it makes lovely tea if you've got a cold or a headache - but it doesn't go with new potatoes or lamb chops very well. As for basil - you can grow it outside in the summer in a good quality soil in full sun - if the slugs don't get to it first. On the whole it seems to do better in successional sowings in pots or tubs - and the slugs are easier to control like that. Either way, basil grows well indoors on your window sill, mint prefers the wide open spaces and dies down in winter, so wait till next year. You probably won't get good results, either, from planting out the pot-grown basil that you buy with your veg in the supermarkets - it's a commercial variety that's designed to do well in your kitchen, it isn't good enough to go outside - I've tried.
Happy growing!

Answer 2

you can do it now, but you'll have to keep them inside. Basil can be grown inside from seed all year round, provided it's in a bright place and kept warm enough. Mint I would say buy a plant in spring from a garden centre and keep in a container outside, but you could rear it over winter indoors as well.

p.s. mint is virtually indestructible. Even if all the leaves die, the roots tend to keep going and will surprise you by recovering. basil is more temperamental but it's so easy to grow new that it doesn't really matter.

All houses/gardens are different, so the best thing you can do is experiment. As long as you don't move the plants too often, try them in different rooms, different places in the rooms. You'll soon get a feel for the conditions they like. You get loads of seeds in a packet, so if it doesn't work straightaway it doesn't matter that much.

You can get the seeds from garden centres, DIY type places, larger supermarkets... etc. Good luck!

Answer 3

If you can get some mint roots from a neighbor, you cant plant them now. Be forewarned, the stuff spreads like crazy.

Wait until spring when the weather is warm for basil. It is an annual, and it doesn't last very long before starting to flower and go to seed. The leaves can be patted dry with paper towels, put in plastic sandwich bags and placed in the freezer, or just dried and placed in jars.

Answer 4

Basil is very tender and is a Mediterranean plant, Mint is very hardy and is a plant that has been grown for a long time in the U.K and can become invasive if not controlled in a suitable container. They are both lovely herbs to grow & use. I would buy them from the supermarket as growing herbs and plant them in the garden for mint & greenhouse or windowsill for Basil. Wait until spring for mint & late spring early summer for Basil.

Answer 5

If you want to plant them outdoors it might be best to wait. Any garden supply store should have the seeds, or you can buy the plant already started. One thing though, mint is very invasive. You might want to consider planting it in a pot and making sure that it doesn't trail onto the ground (put it on a table). Otherwise your little garden will end up a mint garden.

Answer 6

Personally I would buy the plants and then go from there. You could put them inside for now until spring. We have to get new basil every year but the mint usually survives the winter as long as it has had time to setlle in and harden.
Supermarkets sell them as well as garden centres.

Answer 7

Basil really does not grow well in the winter, indoors or out. As for mint, you can seed that at any time, but be warned, it's a creeper and it will never go away once it's in the ground.
If you don't want it to take over your little plot, put it in a pot and you'll always have enough, believe me!

Answer 8

It would help if you told us where are you located. I the US Midwest, I would think of rabbits in the city or deer in the outskirts. Slugs only eat certain leaves and they leave holes in them, just like most beetles and larvae. If the leaves are shredded or ripped off it's something much larger than a bug. UPDATE: Ok, if your plants are in pots on a table, it's probably beetles or grasshoppers, less likely slugs. Crawling insects can be stopped with diatomaceous earth, an all-organic powder which looks and feels like grinded bones, is not poisonous at all, and kills insects on contact (by drying out their wet "skin"). You spread the powder on the table around the pots, and also on the soil around the plant. Unfortunately, this is not very effective against flying things like grasshoppers, which can get directly to the leaves. But since we don't know for sure what you have, you can try the diatomaceous earth and see if the plants get better. Good luck!

Answer 9

Basil is very cold intolerant. It does best in the hot direct sun. While it can grow in cooler conditions (no frost) and even some shade it only truly develops its maximum wonderful taste in the warmer temperatures and in the full direct sun of summer.
So wait.

Answer 10

wait til spring.

But be warned, mint spreads. A LOT. If you dont want it popping up all over the place, best to put it into containers.