You know, bugs know what's good for them, that's why they attack our precious plants! Try to ignore the holes in your basil, unless it's being decimated. In which case, spray it with some garlic spray. It's a good all-rounder for a lot of bugs and diseases. Potent, so take precautions when spraying it.

GARLIC SPRAY:
Soak 1/2 cup crushed garlic cloves in 1/2 cup vegetable oil for one week. Add a little liquid soap and dilute the mixture - 1 part mixture to 10 parts water. Garlic spay will kill and repel aphids, woolly aphids, bean fly, stink bugs, crickets, grasshoppers, red spider mite, sawfly larvae, scale, snails, slugs, thrips and caterpillars, mosquitoes and ticks, the adult moths of leaf-miners and mealy bugs. It is an effective fungicide when used 3-4 times a week against potato blight and damping off.
OR
Crush 100g garlic, 2 chillies and 2 onions and cover with water for 24 hours. Strain and add enough water to make up 2 litres.

Coriander: Sow seed in spring in situ  seedlings do not transplant well. The Âseeds are technically the fruit, each containing 2 true seeds. Germination can be improved by rubbing the fruits until the 2 seeds separate. Soak the seeds for 3-4 days, changing the water twice daily, then dry the seeds for 8 hours before planting. Sow seeds about 5mm deep. Prefers full sun in cooler climates but will do well in partial shade.

Chives: Seed can be sown, 5mm deep, in late spring if planting directly outside and take 7-14 days to germinate and 75-90 days to be ready for harvest. Ideal temperature for germination is 20°C, and germination occurs in less than 2 weeks. Chives prefer full sun but will tolerate partial shade.

Thanks daisyduckworth.Appreciate it.I had a q.Does the garlic spray affect the taste of the basil or does it run off when we wash the basil for use in cooking. Also can the same spray be used on othe plants...like roses?

The corainder seeds i bought were prepackaged but do not offer any advice on the germinating condition of the seeds.So when u say they dont trasplant well...does it mean i wont be able to shift the plants when they are about 1-2 inch tall to a bigger container?

The garlic spray does not affect the taste of the plants you spray it with - not once you rinse off your herbs when harvesting, any way.

You can transplant your coriander once they're large enough (say, 4-5cm) but expect some to protest. Just remember to ease them out of the soil gently, no tugging, and take as much dirt with the roots as possible.

Thanks a lot daisyduckworth......It was really helpful.Hope these herbs turn out well.

Norma

You can sow Cilantro seeds directly outside. Cover lightly. I normally let one or two Cilantro plant flower. At the end of the season, I harvest the fruit and scatter some on the garden. Late spring every year I have new fresh Cilantro and then some for the next season. Same technique for chives.

I always have problem transplanting Rosemary but chives and cilantro they are not picky and they are very nice chopped with fresh tomatoe of course

Thanks for the advice Greendwarf!

Has anyone tried products with neem oil for pests & fungi on herbs? I recently bought a 3-in-1 (fungicide, insecticide, miticide) spray for my tomato plant, and it seems to be helping. I was thinking of spraying my herbs with it occasionally as a preventative, but I'm afraid to because I can't find any information anywhere that specifically says whether or not it is safe for herbs.

It looks like it is a natural product, and even though it makes no mention of herbs, it does say it is safe for vegetables. So my guess is that it's probably okay--but it has what seems like an awful lot of health warnings for something that I'd spray directly onto something I'll eat.

Any thoughts?

Neem is a herb (a tree which grows to 20 metres in the wild), Azadirachta indica, or Melia azadirachta. All parts of the plant are used medicinally. The oil extracted from the seeds is insecticidal when used as a garden spray. It is also used in skin and hair lotions, anti-tartar toothpaste and soaps. The only warnings I've seen about Neem concern internal use of it in medicinal doses for periods of longer than 2 weeks, and the oil is not used internally.

I'd be interested to learn more about the warnings you've seen or heard.

I have since read up a little more and found out that it is, in fact, safe to use on herbs.

I am guessing that the warnings on the bottle are just standardized warnings that all chemicals are probably required to say. I just got a little squeamish when a product that claims to be natural and safe has a 6-page foldout label that says stuff like hazardous to skin, if it gets on the skin rinse the area thoroughly for 15-20 min... if it gets onto clothing then remove the contaminated clothing immediately... hazardous to humans and domestic animals...and has a dedicated poison control number.

I think basically they just don't want me to spray it directly into my eyes or put it in my cat's water dish.