Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wrong Thyme of the year....
Just what IS this jumbled mess of a dead plant? It's supposed to be the herb thyme. Oh dear. Obviously I've done something wrong. HA!
I had wanted this to grow indoors in my eastern facing kitchen window. Y'all have any ideas about growing thyme indoors? I LOVE this herb!!!
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4 comments:
I never have much luck growing herbs indoors. They always end up dying or looking very sickly. Sorry I'm not much help.
Up here in Michigan, I LOVE to plant a large planter in the spring full of herbs on our patio. We have fresh herbs all summer long. This year I added a big barrel with a tomato plant surrounded by basil and oregano and we had tomatoes all season too.
Yet... for whatever reason... any plant inside my house... dies! I keep looking at that Aero Garden. I wish it wasn't so expensive I would try it!
No help here either! : )
It looks as though you might have been giving the thyme a bit too much water. Also, as mentioned by Lynn and hip chick, herbs like to be outdoors whenever possible. Ever think of taking the potted plant out for a "field trip" in the yard during the day? From your blog, it appears that you live in a temperate area. The thyme should do well outdoors through most of the year - even overnight. Here in the Northeast, my time rosemary and tarragon are still doing well in the ground. If you do keep herbs inside, try to us a sunny window in a cool room (the draftier the window, the better!) Good luck with the next little guy...
Hey! Normal thyme, from my experience, is not the hardiest of herbs, not that it dies quickly, just that it becomes unsightly after a few months. I find that Lemon Thyme is the hardiest I've dealt with so far (as well as being my absolutely FAVOURITE variety of thyme) If you get a chance, get it, then:
1- Make sure you get a tall pot: as with all herbs, they like space to spread their roots, in this case, it is better to have a tall pot instead of a wide pot, plants tend to survive for longer this way.
2 - Don't keep it indoors. Thyme likes lots and lots of sun. Choose the place that receives the most sun near you and put the pot there, then change it from time to time if it's not getting enough sun.
3- Watch the leaves: thyme's leaves become pointier with cold or periods of low sun. You want your thyme to have small but nevertheless present leaves, not pointy excuses.
4 - Thyme goes underground when it's cold naturally. It happens with Lemon Balm as well, that's just natural so make sure you harvest it all before winter, dry it, and then just wait for next Spring when it comes back again.
As everyone else has said, plants like the outdoors. Ah, also almost forgot. If you have it near the kitchen, don't, the oil and grime and the smoke from food are damaging to plants, especially the oil, so if you really want to grow it indoors make sure it is on a windowsill that gets lots of sun at first (I don't know what the weather is like where you live), as long as you keep it away from where you cook there shouldn't be much trouble. Also, with thyme, don't cut the woody parts of the plant because that messes up their growth, try to cut the top part of the plant, or a whole sprig, trying to not cut the thicker, woody bits which support the rest of the plant.
Sorry about the information being a bit all over the place, I should be doing my reading for tomorrow's presentation instead!
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