Hi all, My girlfriend and I recently put together our first ever herb garden on our balcony patio. We have multiple plants all in round pots which I believe are sufficient for their size, and they get plenty of sun (southern exposure, I live in Illinois). Oh and none grew from seed I bought small plants and repoted. Some plants are doing great some not so well… please give me some advice on what is going wrong….

tomato, basil, jalapeno, oregano, mint, rosemary, thyme, and sage all seem to be doing great!

now the problems…

parsley and cilantro – both did well for a few weeks then I noticed they were infested with these small larvae eating the leaves and small gnats, I believe they were fungus gnats and larvae… I was told to throw the plants out before they spread to the other plants, so i did, 2 plants down…

arugula – it did well for a few weeks also, after I tossed the infested parsley and cilantro I noticed the arugula had the same bugs, even more! Then it started to flower badly and I didn’t cut it. After some google research I decided to spray all the plants with a soap & water and cover the top of soil with sand to stop the gnat infestation (suppposedly the sand stops them from laying seeds on top of the dirt and spraying with soap/water kills living ones) … this seems to have worked but the arugula still looks bad and wilted not many new leaves… is it done for the season because I let it flower?

onion chives- they grew like crazy for over a month and were delicious, never got the bugs either… now it is starting to wilt and there isnt any new growth… is it too hot maybe? 90+ all this week!

tarragon – I believe its mexican tarragon, it grew well for a few weeks then started to flower, I cut the flowers as soon as I saw them and since then the plant hasn’t grown much and seems to be wilting away…

dill- seems to be getting more and more wilted and not much new growth.

So if someone could give me their 2 cents on the problematic plants and what we’re doing wrong I would really appreciate it . Thanks for your time!

nick&lauren

I cook a lot and use a lot of fresh herbs, but they’re so expensive! So I was thinking of growing a small herb garden of mint, thyme, Rosemary and maybe a few others… Problem is, every time I try to grow anything it dies. I have like, a black thumb or something! So, I was wondering what the difficulty level is for a small herb garden like this, if it would be better to grow indoors or out (I live in Bakersfield, Ca, so it’s hot summers and very cold winters), and just any general tips someone more experienced than me thanks!

I planted some herbs in a small garden space (about 2 feet by 4 feet) and now they have spread like crazy, especially the Thyme ! How do I dig portions of the herbs up to put in pots to give to friends without harming the plants or their roots ?

I am planning to start a small herb garden in a window box style hanging wire planter that is lined with coconut husk. I live upstairs and have adequate access to light but not ground dirt, so this is my only real option for planting herbs. I want to grow parsley, thyme and possibly rosemary since I use these often. Here are my questions:
1.) Should I keep the plants in little pots and just line the planter with the little pots or can I fill the planter with potting soil and plant the herbs in the soil, allowing them to root? (this is what I’d prefer to do.)
2.) If I do plant the herbs in soil, is there a particular method I should use in lining this wire basket?
The planter is quite large, approx. 3 ft. long and 10 inches deep so I feel like this should be adequate for three plants to grow. Any advice would be appreciated, as I’m planning on hanging and setting this up over the next few days.

i bought some already grown basil from the supermarket about two weeks ago. i transplanted them last week to a larger rectangle shaped pot for the balcony. in this pot i have two basil plants a thyme and rosemary plant.. i’m considering removing the thyme and rosemary and giving them their own separate pots.
can anyone tell me why on earth my basil is all droopy and floppy? it gets direct sunlight everyday and i water them frequently. i have also used bio/organic soil and the plants were organic to begin with.. can anyone tell me where i’m going wrong, or is this normal (like, are the plants in a kind of shock?)?
cheers for any advice you can give me!

Fresh herbs:
- parsley
- cilantro
- dill
- rosemary
- lavender
- thyme
- oregano
- chives
- sage
- catnip

Vitamins:
- vitamin C
- garlic
- echinacea
- calcium
- grape seed extract

Please tell me if anything here can cure dizziness.