Gardeners will never need to pick up these herbs again in the supermarket if they follow these handy tips to grow their own
If you’ve ever considered growing your own garden, this low-budget herb hack is the perfect gateway.
A cooking pro on TikTok is sharing how you can get an “unlimited supply” of your favourite herbs, including coriander and mint. The account, zaynahbakes, recently posted a video sharing a beginner’s guide to herb gardening.
Zaynah Din is the author of the cookbook Desified: Delicious recipes for Ramadan, Eid & every day. In the video which has garnered over 270,000 views, Zaynah holds two store-bought herb pots, which retail for around £1.50 in supermarkets, and provides instruction on how to grow coriander and mint at home.
“You only need a handful of things,” promises Zaynah before listing the supplies. “Some compost, some larger pots, a little shovel and gardening gloves – which are optional.”
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Zaynah then begins carefully slicing open the bag of compost with a knife. “Take your herb pot. Squeeze it to loosen the soil and it should just come out in one go.” Being mindful to keep the soil intact makes for a clean transfer that doesn’t disturb the roots.
“If you know anything about gardening or herbs,” says Zaynah, “you’ll know that mint is very invasive and it grows really quickly. Kind of like weeds.” For that reason, Zaynah says the mint will quickly ‘take over’ whichever planter you put it in.
You should be a bit more strategic about which planter you choose for your coriander, advised Zaynah. “You don’t want to put your coriander from [the small store-bought] pot into a massive planter. Because actually if you have too much room it will kill your plant.
“You wanna do it in stages,” she says, “from small to medium and then move it into a larger pot.”
“Take your plant, your little pot of herbs here and – without ripping the roots too much – you want to separate – crack it open.” Zaynah uses her bare hands to crumble open the stiff soil – but again, you can use gardening gloves for this process if you prefer.
Zaynah advises viewers to be gentle to avoid killing too many of the roots, though she promises they will grow back and replenish in any case. The chef also adds a tip for at-home cooks: “Cut off [the] coriander herbs on the top and use them in your cooking because they’ll grow back in a few days”.
Taking her own advice, she cuts off a few leaves from the store-bought plant. The trim will also keep the plant from getting tangled, Zaynah advises.
After ripping the store-bought plant into quarters, Zaynah says the next step is to fill up your planters with compost – breaking it up as you go. Once the planter is about halfway full, you can then use the shovel to make a little space for each of the broken up segments of coriander.
Once each plant is situated in its designated spot, you can then take some extra compost and fill in gaps around the plant. Repeat the exact same process with the mint plant.
“If you love cooking like I do, it’s a very special feeling when you start to use the ingredients that you grew yourself in your garden,” shares Zaynah.