Definitely not enough sunlight. Plants need energy and warmth to develop serious resins. Also, your "general purpose" fertilizer should have N-P-K numbers that are either the same, or slightly higher in the last number.

Thanks Hermitian. I can't do much about sunlight. The trees come right up to my south side. I will try using my seed-sprouting lights to grow some herbs this winter. Maybe it'll work.

Many people complain about weak tasting herbs in the spring time - check the back posts. We've seen it here many times!! The general consensus is that spring time is a time of extra rain and the plants are too flush with water making for weak taste and that herbs under some stress like dryness, have much stronger flavors.

You can skip the fertilizer. Most herbs don't require it. Average soil (at best!!) is all they need.

FataMorgana

FataMorgana,
You overlooked the original poster's comments that she "grow in containers on my deck. 4-6 hours of sunlight, even in summer." This is not a problem with "spring time". It is definitely a problem with energy input and lack of potash. I refer you to the publications from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

I most certainly did not miss that the OP was growing in containers. In the 7+ years of answering questions in this group, I've seen two problems account for most every problem people post about here: 1.) trying to grow outdoor plants indoors and 2.) overwatering. Look through the back posts if you doubt me.

I know containers are usually watered by hand as opposed to getting rain as the primary source of water so I'm guessing that the OP is watering too much for the herbs to have the taste they should.

FataMorgana

Scuba,

I had good luck with herbs on 6 hours of patio sunlight. They lived in large clay pots in store bought 'organic' well draining soil. The clay pots dry out quickly which is a good thing for Mediterranean herbs. If you like oregano, keep an eye out for oregano crossed with marjoram sometimes called Italian oregano, it was among my favorite herb this year!