Stop with the pessimism already!! ;o) First, basil & thyme are woody perennials & you should expect them to grow woody. Cilantro always bolts - and it's not unusual for plants to look a bit rugged in the heat of summer, so take it easy on yourself. ;o) It could be drainage/aeration, or it could be a combination of a number of possibilities. High root temperatures can create all sorts of physiological difficulties for plants. It affects root metabolism and slows photosynthesis for extended periods, even when temperatures return to a favorable range. You can help by allowing soil to remain on the dry side, but not allowing plants to wilt. If plants DO wilt, check soil to see if it's still moist. If it is, resist the urge to water & move the plant to shade. I'm not sure of what your climate is (humidity) but I avoid wetting foliage when I water - especially late in the day. When you do water, watering during the hottest part of the day can reduce root temperatures by as much as 30* or more, a great benefit to o/a root health. You'll find nothing written in any credible texts to indicate that fertilizing at the recommended concentrations and at the recommended intervals will "burn" roots. Most tender of all roots are newly formed adventitious roots on cuttings. I have used full strength concentrations on cuttings for many years with no ill effect. If you come across a starving animal, would you feed it 1/4 of what he could eat, or a full serving. If you were sick, would you take only 1/2 your prescribed medicine? Fertilizers are carefully crafted to be delivered in a concentration of salts that produces a specific range of electrical conductivity in which nutrients are most readily absorbed by the plant. Changing the solution changes the range. IF your soil drains well & you are watering properly, you should be able to fertilize at recommended concentrations and intervals. It makes much more sense to look to a soil that allows you to water and fertilize freely and properly than it does to systematically under-fertilize to avoid fertilizer salt build-up because a soil falls short in the drainage dept. To illustrate: I grow many pines and junipers in 5 gallon nursery containers whose ht has been shortened by half. The soil I use for these plants is 10% fir bark, 45% Turface (a baked clay granule - kind of a porous ceramic) and 45% crushed granite. This soil has only a 10% organic component. For the plants I want to rapid growth in, I fertilize with a full strength concentration of 20-20-20 granular fertilizer plus, I add 5-1-1 fish emulsion in full strength concentrations to the solution. Because all my soils are highly aerated and drain very well, I am able to do this weekly. I have never seen a single sign of fertilizer burn. I use a similar strategy in my other floral garden containers that are in a 90% organic mix. At the first sign that leaves might be showing some yellowing, I fertilize with a full strength mix of 3-2-1 fish emulsion plus 20-20-20 granular. If leaves show good color, I use 5-1-1 fish emulsion plus 10-50-10 granular to increase bloom profusity. (I'm not suggesting you or other readers adopt this nutrient supplement program, but it suits my growing habits very well.) Don't get discouraged Anne. I see your questions all over the forums. You'll succeed because you want to learn. While you're gaining more & more knowledge, your growing success will grow exponentially as the pieces of the puzzle & procedural keys fall into place. Al

In order to get a picture of the difference between soluble fertilizers and organic fertilizers, imagine cell membranes as the fabric chain link fences are made of. Soluble fertilizers moving through cell walls might be considered something like you pushing ping pong balls through the holes in the fence, while organic molecules are more like trying to push basketballs through. The basketballs would have to be broken down into smaller pieces before they would fit. If there is no one standing by to break the basketballs down (if there are reduced populations of soil biota to break down the large organic molecules) no basketball parts get through. MG houseplant fertilizer is probably not a good choice. I believe the % of NPK is 8-7-6, or very close to that. Plants actually use about 6x more N than P and about 1.5x more N than K. If you choose a soluble fertilizer, you would be better served with something in a 3:1:2 ratio. 24-8-16, 12-4-8, and 9-3-6 are all very popular 3:1:2 ratio soluble fertilizers. Dyna-Gro makes 9-3-6 Foliage-Pro soluble. It's not easy to find, but it's the best I've seen because it also includes Ca and Mg (usually lacking in commonly found soluble blends like MG, Peters, Schultz .....), and it contains all the essential elements in the ratio plants need for normal growth and in a very favorable ratio to each other, also an important consideration. Al

Most of the popular culinary herbs don't want or need fertiliser - they prefer their soil poor. Potted plants, however, will need not to be ignored - they are high maintenance and you'll need to fertilise those from time to time as the nutrients leach out (this doesn't happen in the garden). I find that compost is a good fertiliser. I have only a teensy courtyard garden, so no space for a compost heap - so I buy it in bags. Whenever the soil level in pots gets a bit low, in goes a handful or two of compost. And while I'm at it, I toss handfuls of it hither and thither over the garden. Even changing the potting soil from time to time will be enough for many of your herbs - you'll do this for things like mint or lemon balm on a regular basis. Basil and chillies are greedy plants and will need more fertiliser than others. I suggest for beginners to use a slow-release fertiliser in pellets according to manufacturer's instructions around basil.

You will (of course!) have your peppermint in a pot, won't you? In which case, just give it a handful or two of compost whenever the soil level drops, and replace the soil every time you repot - a handful or two or fresh potting mix will also nourish it sufficiently. Also stick a couple of large builder's nails into the soil - mint loves iron. Other than that, don't bother fertilising it at all. Oregano - if it's in a pot, the compost/potting mix topper-upper will be quite enough for it. If in the garden, leave it to its own devices. Don't forget to water it!