Free Herbs From Your Kitchen Counter

Last month I bought a living basil plant from the grocery store for a few bucks. Used about a third of it, left the rest on the counter, and watched it slowly give up on life over the next ten days. Then I bought another one. I did this twice before the obvious finally hit me.

You can propagate those grocery store herbs. For free. Using a glass of water and a windowsill. I have no idea why this took me so long to figure out.

Which Herbs Actually Work

Basil, mint, and oregano are the three I’ve had consistent luck with. All three root easily in plain water, no rooting hormone needed. Mint is almost embarrassingly easy. You could probably root mint in coffee.

Rosemary works too but takes longer and wants good drainage from the start, so I usually skip the water stage and go straight to soil. Thyme is hit or miss for me. And by “hit or miss” I mean I’ve killed more thyme than I care to admit, which feels appropriate somehow.

The Basic Setup

Take a cutting that’s 4 to 6 inches long. Snip just below a leaf node, which is the little bump where leaves grow out from the stem. Strip the leaves off the bottom half so nothing is sitting in the water and rotting. That’s about it for prep.

Drop it in a glass or jar with an inch or two of water. Set it somewhere that gets decent light but not direct afternoon sun, which will stress the cuttings before they’ve had a chance to root. A kitchen windowsill facing east or north works well here in the Pacific Northwest this time of year. We’re not exactly drowning in sun anyway.

Change the water every couple of days. This is the part I used to skip and then wonder why things went slimy. Don’t skip it.

What to Expect and When

Mint roots in about a week. Sometimes less. Basil usually takes 7 to 14 days and you’ll start seeing little white nubs forming at the nodes before actual roots develop. Oregano is slower, more like two to three weeks, but it gets there.

Once the roots are about an inch long, pot them up. I use a mix of coconut coir and a little perlite for herbs since it drains well and doesn’t stay waterlogged the way straight potting mix can. Herbs in soggy soil are unhappy herbs.

The transition from water to soil is the only tricky part. The roots that form in water are structurally a little different from soil roots, so the plant needs a few days to adjust. Keep it well watered for the first week. Don’t let it dry out completely while it settles in.

Where the Cuttings Come From

Grocery store herb bundles are an obvious source. Those little living herb pots they sell near the produce section are even better since the stems are fresh and actively growing. I’ve also grabbed a sprig of mint from a friend’s overgrown patch (mint will basically chase you home if you let it), and clipped basil from my own plants once they got big enough.

If you’re starting from a grocery bundle, cut stems right away and get them in water the same day. The longer they sit on the counter, the more the stem ends dry and seal over, and they don’t root as reliably once that happens. I learned that the hard way after leaving a bundle sitting out for three days thinking I’d “get to it.” I did not get to it.

Basil Specifically Wants It Warm

One thing worth knowing about basil: it really does not like cold. Below 50 degrees and it sulks, drops leaves, turns black at the tips. Our April nights in Redmond still dip into the 40s pretty regularly so I’m keeping my basil cuttings inside on the counter, not near a drafty window.

Once we’re reliably above 50 at night (usually mid-May around here, sometimes later), I’ll move pots outside to the covered patio. Until then, inside is fine. Basil on a counter looks intentional. People think you’re a person who has their life together.

One Jar, Zero Dollars

I currently have a mason jar on my kitchen counter with four basil cuttings and three mint stems in it. The mint already has roots. The basil is getting there. I spent nothing except the ten seconds it took to fill the jar with water.

My youngest saw the jar and asked if we were growing “water plants.” I told her we were growing free plants, which is basically the same thing in this house.

You could buy herb starts from a nursery every spring and there’s nothing wrong with that. But a glass of water and a grocery store bundle gets you to the same place. That’s the kind of math I can get behind.

Photo by Kind and Curious on Unsplash