Indoor Herb Gardening
Ideally herbs are meant to be grown in full sun, in
well-drained soil. Most come from the Mediterranean where they grow wild
on barren mountainsides. So they will grow best in the garden or in pots
outside the kitchen door or on your balcony, if it is sunny enough.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t grow them on
your windowsill.
You just need to adjust your expectations. Don’t
expect them to act like perennials. Treat them like any other flowering
pot plant that you buy for the house and discard when it has finished
flowering.
The same applies to herbs – use them and when they
start looking sickly, turf them out and buy a new pot. It doesn’t mean
you have failed as a gardener. The reason is that the windowsill pots
are actually too small for sustainable growth and they are probably not
getting enough light.
Extend their life by feeding with a liquid plant
food at half the strength.
Also, don’t over water. Once a week should be
enough. Keep the soil feeling slightly damp, but not sodden or bone
dry. Check that they aren’t sitting in a saucer of water. This causes
the roots to rot and the plant to die very quickly.
Herbs work really
well in outside containers and the advantage is that the pots can be
moved around as the sun moves from season to season.
The container should
be a minimum of 20 cm in diameter with drainage holes in the bottom.
With a big enough pot you can plant a combination of herbs, like
oregano, Italian parsley, thyme and basil if you love making Italian
sauces for your pasta.
Other good
combinations are a salad mix of dill, rocket, sorrel and chives or a
Thai mix of chillies, coriander, lemon grass and garlic.
One tip: keep your
mint in a separate pot because it overruns everything.
Here are a few
pointers for potting up your own herbs. Use a reputable commercial
potting soil that drains easily. You don’t need to put stones or gravel
at the bottom of the pot. Contrary to belief, this does not promote
drainage but has the opposite effect.
Herbs in pots need
more regular watering than those planted in the ground. Check the
moisture daily, especially in hot or windy conditions. Water in the
morning or early evening and give the pot a thorough soaking.
If you find the herbs are infested with aphids or
red spider, just cut the herbs right down rather than spray with
pesticides. |
