New herb aerogardener seeks advice

[dennisaurus]

Hello all, glad to find this forum.  My sister and I picked up a Aerogarden unit for my mother.  Got it set up about a month ago.  So far seems to be going well, especially....



...that overachieving basil plant on the left.

We've got the two basil plants in the back row, thyme and mint in the center, then Italian parsley and oregano in front.  I've read the thread on pruning basil and I'm going to snip both basil plants.

My questions: the thyme seems a bit scrawny.  Is this normal?  And some of the plants seem to be growing more out that up.  I'm wondering if I should set up the trellis.  I'm thinking no, because I've never seen an Aerogarden herb setup with a trellis but thought I'd ask.

Thanks in advance, and hope I can contribute to the community in the future.

[scarfguy]

Welcome!   I found this forum a couple of months ago.  You'll like it here. These people have a wealth of information and are very nice and helpful.

Basil always grows like a weed.  You're experience the issue we all have when we plant multiple things in an AG.  Stuff germinates and grows at different rates.  Everything looks like it's growing like it should, though.

I would cut the basil way down.  As long as you leave the first set of large leaves, I don't think it will die.

By cutting down the basil, you will be able to lower the light hood and get more intense light to the shorter, slower plants. As you continue to prune the larger ones, the shorter ones will "catch up" and you will have them all about the same size.

[Shawn]

dennisaurus, Welcome to the forum.  We are happy to have you and glad you found us.

The garden looks great.  Thyme does start off like that but will bush out in "time".  You can see how mine stared here.

As for the basil, if you can get a picture lifting one of the top set of basil leaves so I can see the stems. It would be easier to assit in letting you know where to trim/prune it.

[lynnee]

Nice to see you and your garden, dennisaurus! I can't improve on the advice from scarfguy and Shawn, but I'm quite envious of your parsley! For some reason, I always have trouble getting parsley to germinate. Your thyme looks healthy, and will definitely branch out more eventually.

[Sher]

Welcome, dennisaurus. So glad you found us!

As scarfguy said, I would trim the basil back to the yellow arrow in this picture. Your basil will grow bushy and wider instead of just tall and skinny.

[dennisaurus]

Thank you all for the help.  The basil will be snipped tonight.

[Shawn]

If there are three sets of nodes, you can cut at the middle one too.  That is where I cut.  Everyone has their preference and both should work