Thread: growing catnip

Is it possible to grow catnip indoors?

Oh yeah, as long as it has plenty of light and room. The plants can get pretty tall (about 2 feet or so) and there are plenty of roots as well but it can be done.

That's what I thought I have a ton of light in my bedroom. My altar is right in front of the sliding glass door where my catnip was and it wilted and keeled over. I only had it for 3 weeks. It came in a biodegradeable peat pot, but I transplanted it to on of those terra cotta clay pots and thats when the wilting started. I have a lot of cat energy in that room I thought for sure it would flourish. Not sure what I did wrong. Thanks for the hope

Could have been the cat energy that did it in! Cats love catnip, they quite quickly kill the poor plants, what with their rolling and chewing. But, if you get it going again, you can always pinch the upwards shoots and it will trail instead, makes it easiser to manage.

Namaste,
Damianna

The kitties live outside. I thought the cat guardians might encourage it. I'm not giving up, though

Catnip and all plants in the same family, which include the coleus, basil, mint, nettle etc. all love dry, sandy, sunny conditions. If you want to start an herb garden with plants in this family the best thing to do is to buy some sand and remove an area of soil and mix in sand with potting soil to a depth of about 6 inches. The 6-inch depth allows the root system to propagate quickly, and once anchored they will come back every year. Make sure you plant like herbs together, so that you keep plants that have like conditions of soil, light and height together. For example thyme is a short ground cover, while basil and catnip are tall plants. If you try to grow these herbs together they will outcompete and usually the thyme will die because the taller plants block out the light. I also like to save money on sand amendments to the soil by potting these types of herbs in large container gardens.

namaste,
JB

How much do you water it? As great as they are, terra cotta pots are horrible for wicking moisture away from the soil inside them and you have to water a little more often.

yes - unless you have cats indoors

I think it got over watered. I was watering it and I think my honey did, too without my knowledge. He did make it up to me and helped clean the back yard and get a garden going with me. So, I'm back at the catnip. I have seeds in the terra pot, a bigger one. I figure once the seedling gets going I can just have my honey make me a chicken wire cage so the plant has chance to grown before the cats come. My history and cats is a whole different thread altogether. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

my catnip it growing like crazy its one of the first ones to really pop up.