I love growing herbs
even though i do not use it frequently. But growing herbs/plant that originates
from temperate region is very trying.
 |
| Greek oregano 5 months from sowing |
Greek Oregano
It took so long to
germinate, almost one month. The seeds are very small hence the newly germinated
seedling is barely visible, not to mention at first leaf stage it look like weeds.
But to top it all, the germination rate is very low. I sow half of seed packet (hundreds
of seeds) and only 5 germinate. Only 1 out of 5 seedlings make it, the other 4
died of drowning (my sis watering the minute size seedlings instead of misting it
lightly) and powdery mildew. But looking at this sole survivor, make all my effort
worthwhile. I’ll propagate the rest from cutting.
 |
| Fernleaf dill, 3 months from sowing |
Germination
rate is also very poor but definitely better than oregano at almost 50%. Dill
is very hardy; once it germinates it is not easily killed. But i have other
problem; house sparrow will pull it out to build its nest (i use wire mesh to
save this one's life). So i only left with an only seedling that is still
growing. I do not know whether dill like to be under full sun or shade. The
information that i get in the internet are all about growing Mediterranean
herbs/plants in temperate country not in blazing hot tropic! So i keep moving it from one spot to another
until i saw it was perking up since last 2 weeks. Finally i knew 2 hours of
morning sun is all it needs to maintain its vigour in the tropic.
Chives
This one takes a
trophy for poor germination. First 50 seeds that i bought from Kebun Bahagia Bersama
never germinate. Another packet was
bought from USA, i sow 150 seeds, and only one germinates.
So, for those who want to grow temperate herbs in
the tropics, other than seed you need a patient of a saint and a tenacity of
bulldog.
So difficult to sow chives. I failed with the whole packet from KBB too.
ReplyDeletedo not put your expectation too high then you will be less dissapointed. Seeds from temperate region are programmed by nature to germinate once the temperature rise, but our temperature is always high.
ReplyDeletemine was lucky with herbs..sbb highland sjuk kot..
ReplyDeleteFh tu dah mcm late spring, mmglah herb tu suka:-)) Mcm hidup kat negara sendiri je!
DeleteChives...aaahhh...have tried n failed...n tried n failed... errrmmm gardener i notice u r also planting lilies...o is it a lily...??? well...u r a miracle worker n i envy u... i bought some daylily bulbs in d past...but knowing that lilies need d cold to initiate flowering...i passed d bulbs to a friend in d US....meaning they didnt even reach malaysia...!! n ..errmmm how i envy KBB lilies...she is another miracle worker...!!
ReplyDeleteIt is no miracles, trust me. What you need is to sow the seeds at a right time. That is the only chives that germinate out of 300+ seeds. Daylily will be happy here but will not flower; I have a pot full of it. Yes, I experiment with lilies too, but since the bulbs comes from north hemisphere, by the time it reach our shore it is hot season already (whereby it is their dormant period hence it sulks). Yes, lily is happy in KBB because the bulb comes from southern hemisphere, their spring coincide with our rainy/ colder weather.
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