The Real Reason Supermarket Basil Always Dies

How many times have you bought a fulsome pot of basil from the supermarket, packed with promise…yet within a matter of days it’s drooping, yellowing or collapsing? Frustrating, isn’t it!

Well, don’t worry – it’s not your fault. The truth is, herbs like these were never going to thrive. But good news – you can absolutely save them by turning one pot into many thriving, bushy plants that’ll keep you in fresh pickings all season long.

So let’s find out exactly why those supermarket herbs are designed to die – and what you can to do to rescue them.

The Problem With Supermarket Herbs

At first glance, pots of supermarket herbs look fantastic: leafy, full of life and great value for money, right? But look closer and you ‘ll see that what appears at first to be one plant is in fact dozens of seedlings crammed together into a tiny pot, shoulder to shoulder, vying for precious space, water, light and nutrients. They look great now, but as they get bigger those resources will soon run out.

The reason supermarket pots of basil and other herbs are grown this way is simple: they’re designed to look good at the point of sale, and not to last. Growers cram these pots with lots of seedlings so they get fuller quicker, and so they can turn them around and get on with growing the next batch.

They will have been grown in optimal conditions, too, usually in greenhouses with artificial lighting, just the right amount of water, and regular feeding, so when they’re shipped to the supermarkets they look as tempting as possible. Trouble is, the moment they leave that controlled environment, they start to struggle. Throw in intense overcrowding and it doesn’t take long for your lush, glossy herbs to fail. No matter how lovingly you water or even sing to your plant, it’s destined to die if it stays like this.

How to Rescue Supermarket Herbs From Certain Death

So let’s fix this! It’s super easy to do. Tip your basil out of its pot, and the first thing you’ll notice is a solid mass of densely tangled roots. Clearly there’s precious little room to grow, which is the heart of the problem. What we need to do is separate the seedlings out to give each one a bit more elbow room.

The aim is to carefully tease them apart and then repot them individually, one seedling per pot. It might feel brutal at first, but basil is pretty robust and should bounce back. Gently settle each seedling into its new pot, planting it at the same depth as it was growing before.

More sensitive plants with thin stems, for instance cilantro or parsley, are prone to snapping, so don’t try to separate each individual plant. Instead, break them up into four to six smaller clumps, and pop each little clump into its own pot.

Use a potting mix that is nice and light and airy so roots won’t be sitting in soggy soil, which basil really wouldn’t like! A good free-draining, all-purpose potting mix should work well, and you might also consider adding some perlite to help with that all-important drainage.

After repotting herbs like parsley, thyme or cilantro, you may find that some of the leaves die back as the plant sort of rebalances its top growth with the roots below but, I promise, within a few weeks it will have bounced back and will be full of life.

Some herbs like mint are sold individually in pots, but to make it last longer you can pot it on into a bigger container then give it a bit of a haircut to encourage it to bush out rather than growing tall and straggly.

Give your repotted herbs a really good soaking to settle the potting mix around the roots and remove any air pockets. This step is really important to help your herbs settle in, while reducing the stress from any accidental root damage.

And just like that, we’ve turned a few short-lived supermarket pots into many young, healthy plants, each with much more space to grow and thrive!

Help Herbs to Thrive

Your herbs are now set up for success, so next we’ll need to discuss how to keep them happy and optimize their lifespan so they give up fresh pickings for weeks, or even months, to come.

Light is crucial. Most herbs are sun lovers, especially basil and thyme, which need several hours of sun a day to stay compact and leafy. Stick basil somewhere gloomy or heavily overshadowed and it will be spindly and simply won’t thrive – but offer it sunshine and it will grow fulsome and develop the very best flavors and aromas. A greenhouse or suntrap patio is ideal, or even a sun-facing windowsill – many culinary herbs originate from the sunny Mediterranean after all.

Cilantro and parsley, on the other hand, prefer slightly cooler conditions and will struggle if it gets too hot (much like myself!), so a bit of gentle morning or evening sun is perfect. Mint is an exception; it seems to grow just about anywhere, though it will appreciate a bright spot promote strong and bushy growth.

Watering is the next piece of the puzzle. Keep the potting mix evenly moist – not bone dry but not waterlogged either. If you stick your finger into the soil and it feels dry about a knuckle down, it’s time to water again. In the peak of summer that may mean watering plants every day, but be guided by how moist that potting mix is before you water.

A little feeding goes a long way. A general-purpose liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks will keep your herby heroes green and productive. As plants grow, you may want to pot them on again into larger containers to keep them happy and ensure there’s always plenty of space for them to keep growing.

Keep Picking Herbs for Longer

One of the biggest harvesting mistakes to make is picking willy-nilly, plucking a few of the biggest leaves here and there, which makes plants likely to end up looking a bit straggly.

The trick is to be a little more surgical. For basil, trim just above a pair of leaves. That little snip will encourage two new shoots to grow from that point, which in time will double your harvest. Repeat this every time you harvest and you’ll soon create a denser, bushier dome of fragrant leaves that will last way, way longer than that crowded pot of herbs we started with.

Cilantro and parsley respond to regular trimming too – just carefully cut away stems once they get to around 4-6 in (10-15cm) tall, making a cut just above a pair of leaves to encourage new shoots to come up in their place.

Mint’s a bit like basil – cut it regularly, making cuts above a pair of leaves to encourage plants to bush out. Mint is a real hero and grows so well from a supermarket pot. I like to plant my mints into handsome containers kept outdoors in dappled shade. I’ve planted it into some of my beds to grow as a ground cover too. While this is rarely recommended because mint spreads very readily, I really don’t find it a problem to come along occasionally and pull out any that’s grown out of bounds or to simply mow around it – it only takes a moment and it’s fantastic to have so much fresh mint. And mint flowers, like many other herb flowers, are amazing for attracting pollinators such as bees, hoverflies and butterflies.

Thyme is a lot slower growing – you could say it takes more time! – so by planting multiple clumps to form a long, low cushion of plants in a sunny spot, you can come along and just snip off the tallest stems as and when you need some intensely aromatic sprigs to wake up the likes of roasting vegetables. By doing this you’ll keep your thyme more compact, healthier, and producing plenty of new, fresh growth.

Keeping supermarket basil and other herbs alive for longer like this feels a bit like cheating doesn’t it – but we’re gardeners as well as cooks, so good for us I say!

Plants Related to this Article

Basil Grow Guide

Cilantro Grow Guide

Mint Grow Guide