Transplanting herbs into pots, overwintering indoors
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Keith
Posted on: September 21, 2009

I have a select bunch of herbs I grew all summer long: basil, parsley, oregano; my question is: can I transplant them or any of them into a pot and bring them in for the fall and winter or will they die off ?

Both basil and parsley will be a problem. Basil is an annual and will eventually fizzle out, so you would be happier with a new plant started right in a pot while the weather is still warm enough to give good germination and bring the plant indoors as soon as nights drop below 10 degrees Celsius. Put it in your brightest and warmest spot indoors.

Parsley is a biennial and if you bring it indoors before any hint of frost started it it will probably last most of the winter. However, eventually it will try to flower and die even if it did not get the requisite frost to do so.

Oregano should be no problem as long as you keep it fairly cool in the winter.

After putting the plants into pots, keep them for a week on the north side of the house to get them used to lower levels of light and get over the shock to the roots. Then move to a bright spot. Check our web-site for hints on how to bring in herbs in the fall. www.richters.com, click on "Q&A" in the "News&Info" section and type in "overwintering " and later "overwintering indoors".

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