DIY Food

Good News: Our Oregano Lives On

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April  1, 2015
8 Comments

Calling all indoor gardeners, science enthusiastists, and herb-ivores! Follow along as we create our very own windowsill herb garden in the center of New York City. And please, offer the tips and tricks we need to keep these plants strong and healthy. 

Thank you for your helpful advice (and gentle scolding) regarding our herb garden. We installed the grow light yesterday, and in what has been a miraculous transformation, our oregano plant has already gained new life (the dill plant will still take some work). 

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Take a look at the before (left) and after (right):

  

After some pruning, our parsley has perked up, and we've also cut back the old growth on the chives.

    

Stay tuned as our garden (hopefully) continues to improve, and please write in with more advice.

Our next step is to harvest some herbs and buy bigger pots. What else would you recommend? What are we doing wrong? Help us out in the comments below!

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8 Comments

louisez
louisez April 4, 2015
Another thought about grow lights: you can use a timer, so lights will go on and off whether you're around or not. You might also look for the kind of grow light set-up that looks sort of like a shoplight with a footed rectangular frame or use more spotlight types so allyour herbs are covered.
 
Trena H.
Trena H. April 2, 2015
Great job! One of my favorite ways to propagate woody herbs like rosemary is to remove the leaves from the stem, then carefully knick the stem with a knife. Bury this section of stem in the soil. In about a month roots will form in this section of plant and you can simply cut the new "baby" plant away from the "mother" plant. Best of luck with your herb garden.
 
Winifred R.
Winifred R. April 1, 2015
Be prepared to see the parsley go to bolt (flower and form seeds) this season - it's really a biennial. Forgot to let you know that in earlier comment. You can take slips (green tips) off your rosemary to start into new pots for future seasons, don't be disappointed if not all grow. I'm not 100% on tarragon, but you might give it a shot with cutting slips from it, too. Check out youtube for ideas on that if you're interested. Good luck, the oregano looks great and the dill's perking up!
 
Jenna B.
Jenna B. April 1, 2015
Yeah I was going to say that too. Make sure to be aware which herbs will bolt and which are actually in season right now.
 
cookinginvictoria
cookinginvictoria April 1, 2015
Yay! Oregano (and rosemary and basil) plants love sun. So glad to see that the grow light is working!! Dill is definitely challenging to grow indoors, so don't feel like you've failed if it doesn't thrive. Gardening is all about trial and error and lessons learned. Makes the successes all the more sweet. :)
 
Kenzi W.
Kenzi W. April 1, 2015
(Not) killing it!!
 
Leslie S.
Leslie S. April 1, 2015
Seriously impressive!! Long live the oregano!
 
Amanda S.
Amanda S. April 1, 2015
Look at that perky oregano! The heartiest plant in the desert.