Learning herb-growing from the experts

It's been a while since I last posted anything about our vegetable plot - mainly because our herbs haven't been doing too well! The lady fingers are going strong and regularly producing fresh lady's fingers, but most of our herbs have died. And so we decided to sign up for NParks' How to Grow Western Herbs workshop last Sat. 

It was a surprisingly informative and useful session - and I think I will likely be a better herb gardener henceforth! Aside from sharing about the optimal growing conditions for various culinary herbs, the knowledgeable speaker Dr Wilson Wong also taught participants how to prune and propagate our herbs.

I thought learning how to prune correctly was extremely useful - and the principle behind it also made intuitive sense. You try to prune in a way that would least 'hurt' the plant, at spots that would help the plant to recover/ regenerate most quickly. Also - inappropriate growing conditions (eg too much moisture, insufficient sun, inappropriate soil mix) will stress the plant and make it more susceptible to diseases. I suddenly realised that plants are very much like humans too - thriving best in environment they can grow best in and falling sick when subject to stress/ sub-optimal growing environments. 

I definitely feel more empowered as a gardener now - just not sure if I would be that patient/ hardworking to go on to implement/ practise all the principles learnt! Let's hope that minimally the rosemary we transplanted during the workshop will thrive!