Most herbs do best with less fertilizer than flowering plants and vegetables. For this reason I use one half the recommended rate of Osmocote for my potted herbs. So a one gallon container would need just one to one and a half teaspoons of Osmocote. If you have several different herb plants in one larger pot figure half teaspoon of Osmocote around each herb plant. Most herbs are grown for their foliage rather than their flowers so using less fertilizer will build healthy plants but not an overabundance of blooms. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti