The simple way to make supermarket herbs last for months

Find your supermarket pot of basil has black leaves within a couple of weeks of buying it? Or your coriander wilts in the windowsill?

Here's how you can keep your herb pots going for months.

What to look for before you buy
Avoid pots where the leaves are already wilting or discoloured or the stems are damaged – you're going to be facing an uphill battle to bring those ones back to full health.

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Media caption,
Basil plays a big role in pesto and it's easy to make

The one thing you should always do when you get home
Joe Lofthouse, from the Royal Horticultural Society says repotting can increase your herb's lifespan by months.

"A lot of herbs will have been in the same pot for a long time, causing them to become root-bound [when the roots become tangled up] so, take them out of the pot tease out the roots and replant them potentially into a slightly bigger pot."

If you need more compost use a moisture retentive mix or soil, says Lofthouse. You might even want to replant into several pots, helping them to have more room and last longer - this is especially true for basil.