Grocery store living herbs

Question: Hello, how do I take care of these? What is the first thing to do? I took them out of the bags ad put them in a shallow serving tray with enough water to cover bottom. My windows are Northeast facing. My balcony is shady but gets a little sun reflecting off the left side.

How or where do I pick off the leaves to use? Will it grow inside all year around? Thank you so much for your guidance

responder: Answered by the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC), University of Maryland Extension. For timely gardening information and tips, subscribe to our Maryland Grows blog and quarterly newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Replied April 11, 2023, 1:07 PM EDT
response: Sage, mint, rosemary, lavender, and thyme are fairly easy to grow if given their ideal conditions: full sun (6+ hours or more of direct summer light), excellent soil drainage (don't over-water), and good air circulation (not being too crowded after planting as they  mature). Growing them outdoors will be much easier and produce more healthy and vigorous plants than growing them indoors because they won't get enough light to thrive inside. The linked pages provide more cultivation information, though their focus is on plants grown in the ground since that is almost always best for the plants when gardeners have that option.  Based on your description here and your prior inquiries, it does not sound like you have enough natural light for the plants to perform well, but they may tolerate the degree of shade your balcony has. The balcony will receive more light intensity overall than the plants would receive through the window. Place them in as much sun as the balcony orientation allows. If you try growing them indoors instead, you'll need powerful grow lights in order to supply them with enough light intensity that they can grow enough to support occasional harvesting.  It's good that you removed the bags because they would hinder airflow, but the tray you are using as a saucer should not have watering sitting on it as this can drown roots. Herbs like these are very sensitive to having their roots stay too wet, and once root rot sets in, there is no cure or treatment to salvage them. When determining when to water, feel the soil around an inch or two deep and only water when it's becoming fairly dry to the touch at that depth. If in doubt, as long as the plant isn't wilting badly, let the plant dry out a bit more before watering since it's easier to have them recover from temporary under-watering than it will be for over-watering. Any saucer used under the pots (which shouldn't be needed outside) should be emptied promptly after watering so any collected water in it does not seep back into the drain holes and stress or kill roots. If the pots do not have drain holes at all, transfer the plants into pots that do.  Mint is the most aggressive of the bunch by far, so if planting these in larger containers for the summer (which is advisable so they have room to grow), bear in mind that it will take up the most space. You might want to give the mint its own container in case you were considering combining the rest of the plants into another (larger) shared container.  As for harvesting, you'd simply remove whatever amount of foliage (such as individual sage leaves) or length of stem tips that the recipe calls for. Young herbs like these won't support much in the way of harvesting their first year or two because they do not grow very quickly, with a possible exception for the mint since it's such a vigorous plant in general.  All of these types of herbs are winter-hardy here (especially in cities, which stay a bit warmer than the suburbs) but life in a container can be more stressful for them and potentially could cause root death if the pots are small and freeze repeatedly. In that case, it would be more reliable to bring them in for winter around October or November and put them back out in spring (mid-May or so since they won't be used to cold temperatures at that point). Only some varieties of Rosemary are cold-hardy enough to usually make it through our typical winter weather. This year, though, many gardeners lost their rosemary to the multiple cold snaps we experienced after very mild periods earlier in the winter.  Miri

responder: The Question Asker Replied April 11, 2023, 2:55 PM EDT
response: Thank you sooooo much. One last wuestion. What brand is the best soil to replant them in if I move to bigger container?On Tue, Apr 11, 2023 at 1:07 PM Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:

responder: Answered by the Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC), University of Maryland Extension. For timely gardening information and tips, subscribe to our Maryland Grows blog and quarterly newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Replied April 11, 2023, 3:03 PM EDT
response: You're welcome.  We don't keep track of all the brands of potting soil on the market, nor do we make brand or company recommendations so we can try to remain impartial. Look for a product that does not use moisture-absorbing granules (sometimes labeled as "moisture control" or using similar wording) since you don't need the extra moisture retention of those additives for herbs. (And for sustainability's sake, such materials are probably not a good idea to use anyway.) Since cacti and succulent blends tend to be designed to have above-average drainage, this might be a good choice if you tend to water often or think you might be prone to overwatering.  Miri