kitchen herbs a question or 2

im thinkin of dooing 2-3 pots fer my mom an uncle so they will have fresh kitchen herbs ta use hopefully year round i KNOW ill have to water the ones i give my mom after abit so no issuess there

actually if youve ever baught the nanonis biscottis at sams club i have 2 of those containers and 2 big round pots (actually i have 4 of the pots 1 has aloe an the outher i was gonna use to root cuttings ta over winter this year giving me PLENTY of time) the nanonis ones i was gonna fill like 2/3 with stones (dollar store like what you see with bamboo) then a layer of this seed starting stuff so the soil dosent make it look REALLY ugly an yea what would yall suggest fer soil?? cheaper is better but im using fer 4 pots so depending im likely ta get the bigger package

plants need ta be semi-draught resistant (thinkin same ones all around) so yea what would yall suggest there?? im thinkin chives little mint fer me ta nibble on(i love the stuff) basil maby an yea my mom dosent do much cooking like AT all but my uncle dos alot of cooking an ive memorised many good recepies from him oh some spearamint too


(this IS my first post here but i dont plan on it beeing near the last)

Welcome! On the biscotti containers, you'll need to make sure and put some holes in them for drainage. The plants you mentioned (and many other herbs) don't need a ton of water so you should be fine on that. As far as soil, you need to look for a soilless potting mix, it'll say on the outside of the bag that it's for containers. I don't know how big your pots are but unless they're huge you should be able to fill 4 of them without spending a ton of money.

lets see from memory the biscotti containers are roughly a foot or sso tall an on the inside like a 6 inch square (all approx) the outher containers i think there a 14" round measurement plastic half as deep as you think so yea i was gonna so stones ta get like 2/.3 of the nanonis containers fer the drainage (no needed dish under an can watch water level maby use my seed starting mix make it only LOOK like theres that many stones)

an how much do you think itill cost?? (i dont know when but i know i wanted ta give once estabalished preferabally before summer ends)

an i dont know if i mentioned buit i was hoping i could use some of my seeds http://my.gardenguides.com/forums/topic/37703?page_no=1#157362 has the insane list oh yea is there some way i could mix the soilless with soil ta save some muney an that or?? then theres 1 container with this scotts moisture retention stuff (it looks to have the least soil) would more of that work?? i dont remember exactallty what it sais past water regularly fer like a month then cut down on watering

You're still going to need to punch holes in the container regardless, believe me it'll make your life much easier. If you're growing plants that don't mind being wet then you can maybe get away with not having holes but with anything else, especially plants that like things on the drier side, you're making it so much easier to overwater them (and believe me, it's not that hard to begin with!) Also, stones actually don't drainage--there's an effect called the "perched water table", what happens here is that the very bottom bit of soil/potting mix in your container is always going to be wetter than the rest. If you use rocks or styrofoam or anything else to create a "drainage layer", the bottom bit of the potting mix is still going to be wetter than the rest, but now it's higher up in the container and your plant's roots are more likely to be sitting in it, which especially with drought tolerant things like herbs is not going to be a good thing.

In terms of cost, you can get a big bag of potting mix for $10 or so, it's really not that expensive. It is not good to use anything but potting mix in containers, it doesn't drain properly and can make it easier to overwater your plants (and it wouldn't be good for seedlings either). I really don't think you'll save that much money in the first place, and in the long run the potting mix will probably save you money because your plants are more likely to survive, otherwise you end up having to try things over and over again which costs more in the end.

how do you get holes in glass without cracking the glass??? nope no dranage holes an the mug has some seed starting mix in it thats designed to retain moisture well so im not really worried bout it (especally cause that looks ta be tree has real leaves now) there should be stones in the bottom of the maragirta glass with a layer of the same seed starting mix then likely the seed mix with the topsoil in it really im not worrying bout anythin after the plants become estabilished cause theyll be just fine im pretty shure of it

as fer outdoor pots ive been dooin that fer the last well this will be 5th year no issues from it yet tho thats where most of my knowledge comes from im still willin ta try fail an learn (when im done shootin the pics fer the outherplace ill link them here fer yall ta see)

I'm not sure if your glasses are amenable to drilling or not, if they're thin glass then you may not be able to. Mugs you can probably drill holes if you're careful. One trick is to put tape over the place you want to drill, then drill through the tape and that will help prevent it from cracking.