Should I buy herbs from the supermarket to grow?

[lesleyq]

I would love to have my own herb garden as I love the flavours they give to my cooking. However I am constantly buying fresh herbs in packets when I should be growing them. The local supermarket has some rosemary, mint and basil plants that I was thinking of buying but they have a use by date on them so not sure if they will keep going or will die out. Should I replant them to see if it works or should I try and go to a garden centre to get plants from there? Any advice would be great!

 

[marlingardener]

Personally, I prefer to buy from a garden center or nursery because they can give you valid advice on growing the herbs. They also don't stock herbs that are not appropriate for your area (dead plants mean a loss of a customer). If you know what you are doing, buying at the grocery store is fine. But, you need to know what you are doing.
Herbs with a "use by" date sounds really strange. Some herbs (basil, parsley, cilantro) are annuals that die after a season. Others, like the rosemary and mint you mention, are perennials and can live for years.
This is not an either/or situation. If the grocery has inexpensive herbs, get some and see what happens. Also go to a good nursery/garden center and see what they have to offer. Buy some of their herbs and establish your own herb garden.
I agree, fresh herbs are an absolute necessity for cooking!

 

[claudine]

It's worth a try.
I bought most of my herbs in a local supermarket and they're doing great Currently, I have three lovely basil plant and a really big lemon verbena.

 

[amelia88]

I too have bought plants from the supermarket before too, and then just took them home and planted them in the ground - and honestly, they flourished! I think provided you're buying something that's appropriate for the season (ie. don't buy basil in the wintertime - rookie mistake, I know because I did it once!) then you shouldn't have a problem provided the plant looks healthy.

 

[zurcminister]

Do not do this if you are serious about what you are doing. You should instead buy good quality plants from established nurseries and plant stores. This way you can be assured that you will be able to grow nice and healthy plants that you will enjoy having and rearing.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Do not do this if you are serious about what you are doing. You should instead buy good quality plants from established nurseries and plant stores. This way you can be assured that you will be able to grow nice and healthy plants that you will enjoy having and rearing.

The only thing I have against buying from nurseries is some spray them with insecticide's or growth hormone that may not be good for the pollinators in the gardens. Ask if they use any chemicals that maybe harmful to bees or other pollinators.

 

[marlingardener]

Fernsdaddy, you are right about some nurseries using sprays/insecticides that are harmful to beneficial insects. When I get a plant from a nursery that I haven't used before, I wash the plant down with rainwater, isolate it from any other plants, and keep it under a "dome" for a week.
Most nurseries are on such a narrow profit margin that they only use sprays if they have an infestation (white flies, for example). I mistrust the grocery store plants because you often don't know who the grower is, what their practices are, and how the plants have been treated before they hit the shelves (your reference to growth hormones is a good example). I still buy bargain herbs at our local grocery, but keep them away from my other plants until I can "flush" the soil, and make sure they don't carry any disease or pest.
You probably have guessed by now that I obsess about my herbs!

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Most plants from grocery stores have a tag of some kind and some times the will have the name of the grower on it if your lucky. I don't know if you have farm stands where your at but up here we have lots of them and you can buy fresh herbs plant from, most of my herbs are from cuttings or seeds

 

[marlingardener]

You are fortunate to have farm stands. Around here most folks have their own gardens, so no farm stands with fresh herbs or herb plants. Mostly we rely on a nursery in a larger town near us, or swaps with neighboring farms. I order herb seeds each year; start my own plants; and then spend the better part of March trying to find folks who want my excess plants!

 

[IcyBC]

I also bought my herbs from the garden center and planted them in pots. They are doing well, and some come back every year.

 

[Corzhens]

If you have the money for plants they it would be a good idea to buy those herbs that are in the black plastic pots. A friend gifted us with 2 herbs in those plastic pots - basil and green tea. We transferred it to the ground because the green tea grows so fast and the basil as well. The small plastic bag will be filled with roots and that is not good so replanting is needed.

 

[zurcminister]

I have a lot of planted herbs in my house and my parents as well and have a lot more of plants used for landscaping and beautifying the place. I also think that pots or polybags are good to grow plants that are still small but then they should be transferred after wards to a bigger space for them to expand and grow bigger and stronger. I think this is applicable to all plants and not just herbs and others. Keep them coming and have fun gardening always guys.

 

[headfullofbees]

I would love to have my own herb garden as I love the flavours they give to my cooking. However I am constantly buying fresh herbs in packets when I should be growing them. The local supermarket has some rosemary, mint and basil plants that I was thinking of buying but they have a use by date on them so not sure if they will keep going or will die out. Should I replant them to see if it works or should I try and go to a garden centre to get plants from there? Any advice would be great!

You can try them; I'd suggest in bigger pots, and if you get lucky, great.
Don't be surprised if they do snuff it though, because they are usually very stressed plants.
All foodstuffs in UK supermarkets have to, by law have a sell-by date on them, and for them, that's principally because they'll be treated like fresh food, not living plants, and won't be tended in the supermarket.
So, by-all-means give it a go, but be prepared to shell out for seed or plants if they don't make it.

 

[Cereus]

There's nothing to worry about the plants- they're good for years to come haha. The use by date is there for legal reasons for 'packaged food'. The fact that there's a sell by/use by date on the container says that the plants were sold as 'packaged food' hence the date. There's also a secondary reason why herbal potted plants are sold that way in some grocery stores. Depending on the country/region- since it's treated as packaged food, it's also eligible to people on food assistance programs. Seeds are the same way.

 

[herbs93]

You should buy herbs firstly in the supermarket, then grow them!
This is my favourite trick, first you buy them, and then chip some part of (usually with basil or rosemary) and put it in water, until small white roots starts to grow. When the roots about 5 cm long you can dig them in soil and they will thrive. Bam! You multiplied your plants. Give some time to grow for the fresh ones, in a few weeks you can actually see new leaves on them.