Timing of planting mixed herbs for good light exposure...

[cloudcover]

Hello!

I just bought my first Aerogarden (Harvest 360) and it came with a set of six herbs (Thyme, Parsley, Dill, Genovese Basil, Mint, and Thai Basil). I'm also planning to buy seeds for Cilantro and Sage.

I'm thinking about the fact that different herbs grow at different rates (and to different heights), with the faster growing and/or taller ones possibly affecting the light exposure of the slower/smaller ones (either because the taller ones shade the shorter ones; or because the taller ones require the light to be raised to a height that's detrimental to the shorter ones). It seems from what I've read that one way of addressing this is by pruning the taller or faster growing ones, which makes sense. But I'm also wondering if there's merit to sequencing when the herbs are planted to help better even out light exposure -- for example, maybe giving shorter/slower ones a head start. If so, I can't imagine that I'm the first one to wonder about this -- is there a chart somewhere for different herbs with advice on sequencing? And if not, I'd love advice on that for my specific herbs, rather than having to reinvent the wheel and learn by trial and error! 

Thanks so much!

[scarfguy]

Yes, I've recently had some good success with this process.  I would give the parsley, mint, and thyme a headstart until they get to be a good inch or two. The dill and basil will soon catch up.

I've also had success with dedicating a 6-pod aerogarden to just one or two different herbs that I know will probably grow at the same rate. That approach will be easier to do when you become the owner of a dozen aerogardens or so. 

[Shawn]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

On the Aerogarden site, they usually show what herbs are tall medium and short unless they changed that. Basil is a fast grower while thyme I do know is slow.  In a Harvest I would place the Basil in the back and thyme in the front.  I have not grown dill until recently and mint. 

If you do plant the slow growers with the faster ones, you can always trim the basil and use it or freeze it.

Sorry I am rambling, no coffee yet LOL...

Scarfguy did give some great advice on planting the slower herbs first and then the faster ones.  You can also read the member gardens and see how they plant and grow.

[maskedsonnet]

I know AG sells them as a set but I’m not sure I’d grow mint in a machine with anything other than more mint. Mint doesn’t behave very nicely and with absolutely try to swallow your other plants unless you keep a close eye on them lol. But I also have my machines in a room that I only really go into a couple times a week, if yours is out where you’re going to see it every day so you know it’s time to trim Right Away it should be fine.

[bigshot]

I'll second the comment on mint. It almost crowded out my whole garden. Dill can do that too. Sage is very slow. If you are going to grow that, plant it first.

[cloudcover]

Thanks for the feedback. So it sounds like I could/should plant the slower growing items first to give them a head start; and if I'm understanding correctly, that would include thyme, sage, and maybe also oregano (which I forgot to mention). Is that right?

Also, it sounds like mint, basil, and dill grow quickly and need to be either pruned diligently or planted separately. All good. How about cilantro and Italian parsley? Are they like mint/basil/dill or more like in-between those fast growing ones and the slow growing one?

[scarfguy]

No experience with cilantro (my wife hates it).

My experience with italian parsley is that it starts slowly but once it gets going, it grows tall and thick. It can shade the shorter herbs fairly quickly.   My favorite herbs are dill, parsley, and basil.  With those three, I've had luck starting the parsley first and then adding the dill and basil a couple of weeks later. In a harvest, those three make a pretty nice display and a full herb garden.

[maskedsonnet]

I think thyme, sage, and oregano would make a pretty full garden in a Harvest, and all three are pretty slow-starters so they'd be good to start at the same time. I'd also put the oregano up front near the edge too, it stays pretty low-growing and likes to trail - here's one that I made the mistake of putting behind the thyme and had trouble getting to to trim because of it:

Thyme and oregano are both pretty well-behaved and compact, I grew them together in a Sprout for a long time with no overcrowding problems. They regrow fairly slowly after trimming too, so low maintenance.

Sage can get pretty bulky once it gets going and also requires pretty diligent trimming. Put it in the back of the machine. I actually had one in a Harvest 360 all by itself for a while before I decided I had far too much dried sage and ended it:

Rosemary, which you didn't mention but I feel should be talked about when mentioning slow-starting herbs, is like sage in that it starts slow then gets BIG, a single plant will take over a Harvest by itself:

Parsley will start slow then will get very tall and bushy, put it in the back row too. Unfortunately, I've never successfully started cilantro in an AG, but others here have and it seems to grow about the same as parsley from photos I've seen.

Basil (both Thai and Genovese) is also something that will get super tall and bushy, and grows very fast. I'd start it last. It's been a long time since I grew Dill so I don't remember if it was slow to start, but I do remember it got ridiculously huge and bushy. I've got two Genovese basil plants in a Bounty and it seems like every two weeks or so I'm fighting this jungle back:

And last, this is the Mint that ate my Harvest - there are only two plants in there, both Lemon Balm:

I don't know what variety of Mint AG puts in their pods, but I will say that every single plant in the Mint family will do that to you if you look away from it for more than a couple days. And you can cut it almost all the way down to the deck and it will come back even bigger and lusher and stronger than before, mint is a delicious weed that seems to love a little abuse/neglect.

[lynnee]

Wow, that's a terrific explanation of how the various herbs grow, maskedsonnet!

[scarfguy]

For what it's worth, I planted some basil from a different seller recently.  I don't know if it is a fluke but this particular basil is a very slow grower for me.  It's growing at about the same rate as the thyme with the dill and parsley about 4 times its size already.

I got it here:

www.etsy.com/listing/772226965

[Shawn]

Oct 27, 2022 13:33:47 GMT -5 scarfguy said:

For what it's worth, I planted some basil from a different seller recently.  I don't know if it is a fluke but this particular basil is a very slow grower for me.  It's growing at about the same rate as the thyme with the dill and parsley about 4 times its size already.

I got it here:

www.etsy.com/listing/772226965

I am always leary getting seeds from etsy.  Many of them grow and save their own seeds and a lot of times they do not grow well.  An older member also found this to be the case.  Of course not every seller does this but you need to be careful.

[scarfguy]

Oct 28, 2022 3:38:52 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Oct 27, 2022 13:33:47 GMT -5 scarfguy said:

For what it's worth, I planted some basil from a different seller recently.  I don't know if it is a fluke but this particular basil is a very slow grower for me.  It's growing at about the same rate as the thyme with the dill and parsley about 4 times its size already.

I got it here:

www.etsy.com/listing/772226965

I am always leary getting seeds from etsy.  Many of them grow and save their own seeds and a lot of times they do not grow well.  An older member also found this to be the case.  Of course not every seller does this but you need to be careful.

Yes, I've found some good and bad sellers on Etsy. HOWEVER, about a month ago I opened a sealed package of marigold seeds from BURPEE of all places and it was full of bird seed and sunflower seeds!