newbie...i think ive messed up

[Anthonyox10]

Hey

So thus is my first year growing anything and ive decided on a few herbs tjat i got in a multi pack frim the supermarket.

Chives, basil, mixed herbs and rocket (not so much a herb)

My question/problem/mistake? Is i thought they would be ok to be grown in mason jars?

Now they have all sprouted, but they all look just like cress haha (apart from the chives that kinda look like weird grass. Will they grow properly in these jars? Or shall i just dump them all and start again in proper pot?

[Kristen]

Mason Jars won;t have any drainage holes I think? That will be a problem ...

If they have come up "like cress" you may have sown too much seed / too closely together. That can lead to not enough air getting to each seedling and them being attacked by a fungal infection. If you are going to keep the batch you have sown (no reason not too??) then I suggest some fine-pointy scissors and chopping off enough seedlings so that each one is only just touching its neighbours. Alternatively work out how many final-plants you think you need and thin the seedlings to, say, twice as many as that.

[WendyC]

Most herbs like really good drainage, they are mainly Mediterranean plants. Do your jars have holes in the bottom? If not I think you are going to struggle. Once the herbs have their true leaves they need potting on perhaps into a seed tray. How big are your jars?

[Anthonyox10]

They are like sweet jars.

I think i may have put too many seeds in each jar. I feel like such a fool but i thought 1 seed sprouted in one bit if chive, or a sprig of basil etc. Now im going to crawl into a hole to hide my embarrassment

[Hazel at the Hill]

I think i may have put too many seeds in each jar. I feel like such a fool but i thought 1 seed sprouted in one bit if chive, or a sprig of basil etc. Now im going to crawl into a hole to hide my embarrassment

Nothing to be embarrassed about, Anthony - the only stupid question is the one left unasked.

[Lisasbolt]

Unless I'm the one being a fool, I think one seed is one bit of chive, and one seed one sprig of basil. But in the pots you buy they only have a couple of sprigs in a pot.
Chives are different as once in a good established area will grow a root ball and grow like grass

[Bigmallly]

Don't throw them away just yet. Get a spoon & scrape of the top 1" of compost along with the seedlings & put them on a tray. Transfer the compost out of the jars into small flower pots then replant "small" clumps of seedlings into the pots & keep your fingers crossed................

[Anthonyox10]

Thanks bigmally i will do that tomorrow and see what happens

[veggiechicken]

Look on the bright side, Anthony, you've sown seeds and they've germinated and you have your very own little seedlings. Well done

[muddled]

...and while herbs sown so close together won't grow to be big plants, they'll look pretty enough on a windowsill and you could snip them and add them to salads for very tasty 'micro herbs'.
If you were serving them in a posh resturant you could charge an absolute fortune.

[Valleyman]

They are like sweet jars.

I think i may have put too many seeds in each jar. I feel like such a fool but i thought 1 seed sprouted in one bit if chive, or a sprig of basil etc. Now im going to crawl into a hole to hide my embarrassment

Everything you say is true. 1 chive seed does give a single chive, and 1 basil seed does give one sprig of basil. Supermarket herbs, especially basil, are guilty of this. Cramming fast growing young plants into a pot to look like a decent sized plant is cheaper and quicker than developing a full size basil plant.

As a home grower you should go the different route though. Chives clump on their own, so say, 1 seedling every couple of centimeters will give enough seedlings for a healthy clump to start forming on it's own. It should last for years, or indeed forever, as chives are perennial. Basil is an annual so feel free to grow it as you see fit as you aren't creating a long term healthy plant. You can either try and grow decent sized plants, i.e 1 plant per pot, or go the supermarket route, i.e a seed every 1/2 inches. There is no such thing as doing it wrong with basil in my book as long as you get the crop you want and don't cram them in too tight.

If it makes you feel any better the first time i grew tomatoes i grew approximately 50 plants in a 5 litre pot and thought that's how tomatoes grew. It didn't go well.

[Kristen]

All sorts of ways of doing it, the supermarket way of lots of plants in a pot is fine for instant-gratification, but if you let them grow on they tend to be hopelessly overcrowded, so for home-use I personally wouldn't grow them crowded like that.

I grow Basil 3 or 4 plants in a 5" pot. I plant up 4 or 5 pots in the Spring, of which 1 or 2 are brought into the kitchen. When they get moth-eaten from Chef chopping bits off , or they start to flower, I take them out to the greenhouse, trim them back so they sprout a-fresh, and bring Chef one of the other pots that has been recuperating in the greenhouse

[Anthonyox10]

Thanks guys. I tried to do what bigmally said but it was way to fiddly for.my bear like hands. So i shall be off to the shops tomorrow to buy some new seeds and start again.

[Scarlet]

What a shame!