Thyme, Oregano & Mint

Starting Herbs From Seed

Today my seeds came and I wanted to experiment with growing a few herbs in an egg-crate I was about to throw away!

First cut the top off and place under to keep moist and in turn keep the cells moist. Place the egg-crate in a plastic tray which you can add water to to keep crate moist. With this method you can water from below to not drown seeds.  Mist the seeds everyday and the cardboard keeps the cells nice and moist.  

Thyme

Place about 4-5 seeds per cell and cover very lightly with soil.  Mist daily to keep soil moist.  Thyme should germinate in 14-21 days (Torture I know).  

Mint

Man are these seeds microscopic!  Try to place 4-8 seeds in each cell and do not cover with soil as they need plenty of light to germinate.  Mist daily and keep soil moist.  Mint should germinate in 7-14 days.

Oregano 

Place about 8-10 seeds per cell and do not cover with soil as they need plenty of light to germinate.  Mist daily to keep soil moist.  Oregano should germinate in 10-21 days.

Once everything is planted cover with plastic wrap.  Once seedlings emerge from the soil take the plastic off.  Use grow lights for 16 hours per day to get these puppies to grow.

01/14/21: 1 month later

Thyme and oregano has germinated quite well, the mint not so much. Mint germinated and then a few days later seemed to dry up.  I have started 6 more mint cells to determine if it was a watering problem or a lighting problem, stay tuned!  I also started 6 more oregano cells and 4 more thyme cells.

01/18/21: Update

6 of the new oregano cells have germinated as well as the thyme cells.  The plastic wrap and the grow lights sure did speed up germination.  No mint germination yet; hopefully soon!  The thyme and oregano sown over a month ago is still going strong!

02/26/21: 2 months later

The herbs are doing great just so slow compared to the average vegetable growth! Herbs take patience is what I learned! I potted up some of the thyme and the oregano will be next.  Mint, even though a fast grower once established, seems so slow to start! Here are some updates!