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Starting Herb Garden Seed
It isn't difficult. Here are the details you need.
Annual Herbs
Annual herb seed is treated exactly as annual flower seed.
Fill a container with sterile artificial soil. This is weed and disease free right out of the bag and is the simplest soil to use.
Lay the seed on top of the soil. Barely cover it. You're not trying to create darkness for the seed, instead you're trying to "just" cover it so the damp soil helps keep the seed in contact with the dampness to help germination along. Burying small seed is the major cause of seed failure.
Seed should be at least one half inch apart or the seedlings will be too crowded.
Keep the seed warm. Only use warm water when you water the soil. And use a heat mat to keep the soil at 70F. Soil that is too cold will not germinate seed but rot it instead.
Do not worry about light at this stage. Any windowsill is fine. Once the seed has started, it will require full sunlight to stop it from stretching.
For more information on annual seed starting, click here
Perennial Herb Garden Seed
Starting and growing perennial herb garden seed is exactly as growing and starting annual seed for the most part.
Surprisingly enough, very few of the herbs require a cold stratification time.
In the case of herbs such as garden thyme that I want to use as ground covers, I simply sow them where I want them to grow once all danger of frost has passed. This pretty much takes care of the problem without transplanting or fuss or muss.
Woody Herbs
Ah, some of the woody herbs such as rosemary and lavender can be started from herb garden seed (see the perennial section above) but I generally start them from cuttings. I treat them exactly as I would any other softwood cutting and you'll see instructions for this right here.
Do you have a question about Starting Herb Garden Seed?
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