Create An Herb Container Garden In 4 Easy Steps

You may enjoy gourmet cooking or just like to have living things in your home and your kitchen. Either way, an herb container garden is a cheery and useful home addition to your kitchen. A treat for the senses, an herb container garden is a delight to touch, see, smell and taste! Follow these easy steps to create your own beautiful container herb garden.

Step 1

You will want to place your container herb garden in a bright, sunny window. More sun means more potency in herbs, so a good supply of sun will give you a better quality of herbs for cooking and creating essential oils. Your windowsill should get at least six hours a day of good, bright sunshine. If it doesn’t, you can supplement the sunlight with a gro-light. If you have a south-facing window, it is the best choice because your herbs will be better protected from winter chill.

Step 2

For the best results, be sure to choose a high quality of potting soil right from the start. Good herbs depend upon a healthy mix of rich nutrients and good drainage that you just won’t get from ordinary dirt. Be sure to start of right with a high quality potting mix so that your herbs can grow healthy, strong roots and abundant, flavorful and aromatic leaves. Light and very nutritious potting soil is the best, so you may wish to add some peat moss and/or vermiculite to the potting soil as an enhancement. Half potting soil and half enhancement is a good rule of thumb for determining how much of each to use.

Step 3

Choose a container for your herb garden that will fit neatly in your space and provide your chosen plants with ample room to grow. Make certain any container you choose has good drainage so that your herbs do not become waterlogged. Old fashioned clay gardening pots are really a good choice because they allow good exchange of air and drainage, and they do not tend to rot as wooden planters do. Don’t overcrowd your herbs. Make sure each plant has plenty of room for the roots to spread out.

Step 4

Check the soil in your herb container garden daily and keep it lightly moist. Determine this by simply pressing the surface of the soil with your fingertip. Watering once or twice a week will probably be enough unless the air in your kitchen is quite dry and hot. Whenever the soil feels dry, give your herbs a good watering. Make sure you know exactly how much water each type of herb you choose needs so that you don’t drown some and dehydrate others.

Generally speaking, herbs are quite hardy and foolproof, so even novice gardeners can have good luck with an windowsill container herb garden. Your herbs will also spread and send off shoots that you can separate and re-pot to share with friends and relations. By following the tips presented here, you will have a versatile, charming, interesting, enjoyable and useful addition to your kitchen.