Growing Herbs in Pots
While often planted directly in the ground, herbs can be grown in containers, pots, window boxes or hanging baskets. Growing herbs in pots allows the herb gardener the flexibility of growing herbs year-round and growing the herbs indoors, outdoors, or in a greenhouse. Growing herbs in pots requires the herb gardener to mind the same growing needs for light, soil, pH, fertilizer, water and drainage the herbs would have if sown in the ground.
The location of your potted herbs should be chosen carefully to be sure your herbs get the right amount of sunlight. Many herbs are labeled for full sun or partial sun, but a few prefer full shade. When growing herbs in pots indoors, choose a south-facing window. You can purchase specialized growth lamps for plants that provide the full UV spectrum needed by the herbs if window sunlight is not adequate.
Herbs need a well-drained soil to avoid root-rot. You want the soil to be damp but not saturated. Mix prepared sterilized potting mix with perlite or sand in a ratio of 2 to 1, and add a teaspoon of lime per every 5-inch pot for indoor plants. Layer an inch of gravel in the bottom, followed with the soil mixture. Plant your herbs in the mix, then place pebbles across the soil around the herbs to hold in moisture.
Air circulation around a pot or hanging basket dries the soil quickly, so growing herbs in pots requires the gardener to pay closer attention to watering. If the pot drains properly, the water you put in will seem to all run out as soon as you pour it; what you want is damp soil around the roots of the herb. Mist the pebbles on top of the soil as well to give humidity to the leaves.
Growing herbs in pots allows you to shift the positions of your plants over their growing season. Not only as the sun moves from spring to summer, but also indoor versus outdoor. Perennial herbs will thrive if brought outside during warm weather, where annuals are content to grow indoors all year long. All herbs in pots should be brought inside prior to frost, which can kill the leaves. Exceptions to this rule are hardy herbs such as chives, mint and tarragon which re-grow a new crop of leaves after touched by frost.
Research the herbs you want before deciding to contain them in a pot. Some herbs will not adapt well to container life and others are recommended to be contained to avoid taking over the herb bed. Most herbs will be happy in a pot.
Taking care of herbs growing in pots is easy. Watering properly is the most difficult part. Herbs rarely need fertilizer but as they grow they may like a light feeding or repotting. Know which of your herbs are perennial and move them outdoors in warmer weather. Growing culinary herbs in pots on the windowsill keeps them handy when needed for cooking.
Harvest your herbs as often as you can. Snipping a leaf here and there or taking the new buds off each branch is the same as pruning and encourages new growth. If you don’t immediately need the herbs you harvest, dry and store them or give them away.
Home Herb Garden Tips
You have potted or planted your herbs and now the foliage is full and healthy, perhaps a year after planting. Herbs have so many uses, away
from the main plant. Harvesting and preserving herbs for any of their multiple purposes requires knowledge and proper technique.
Time your harvest properly. The essential oils in herbs are what you want to get the most of when harvesting. Wind and heat cause the oils to dissipate. Herbs produce less oil on rainy days. Choose a dry, windless morning after flowering has begun for the season; midsummer is often best. Harvest after the dew dries but before that day’s blossoms open.
Using herbs from an herb garden does not mean harvesting the entire plant, as you would a carrot. Often the new growth is all you will collect. Take no more than one third of the plants’ leaves at once. Leaves are essential for the plant to make food and grow. The plant will put on new growth to replace what you harvest. Inspect the plant for insects and disease while you harvest.
Using herbs from a home herb garden does not mean always using them fresh the moment you harvest. For a large harvest, you will want to preserve the herbs for later use. Freezing, drying and pickling by layering the herbs with salt or vinegar are three common ways people preserve fresh herbs.
Drying herbs takes little effort and has not changed in centuries. Count six to twelve stems and create a bundle. Remove leaves from the ends of stems and tie the bundle with string. Hang upside down to dry in a cool space away from sunlight. Alternately, you can dry individual leaves. Remove leaves from stems and lay them out on a rack or screen. Turn the leaves often until dried. You could use a dehydrator, microwave or oven to remove the water from the leaves, but the results may not be as satisfactory.
Herbs can be frozen to lock in their essential oils. Prepare a baking sheet by lining with wax paper. Chop herbs into pieces about 1/4 inch in size. Place herbs on the baking sheet in a single layer and freeze. Once frozen, the herbs can be collected in a container and stored in the freezer for later use.
Pickling herbs is preservation of the herb in a medium. Mint, basil and tarragon are herbs you can combine with vinegar to preserve the herb flavors for many months. Create a flavored salt by layering fresh herbs with salt. The salt draws the water out of the leaves, leaving the oils and flavor. Once the herbs are dry and brown, shake out the salt and store the herbs in an airtight container.
Instead of preserving every herb you harvest, you will use some herbs fresh from the garden. Remove dirt and insects prior to using in food. Wash the leaves and stems gently by immersing in cool water. Use a large bowl or the sink basin to give the leaves room. Add salt to the water to drive insects from the leaves; use two tablespoons for a large bowl. Dry the herbs with a salad spinner as you would delicate lettuce.
Unless you grow only one type of herb, the correct way to harvest, preserve and use the herbs from your home herb garden will vary. Study information on the herbs you grow to learn how to get the best flavor or aroma results from each plant in your herb garden.
Italian Herb Garden
Italian cooking contains some of the most flavorful and well-known herbs. Growing herbs such as oregano and basil will add authentic flavor to your homemade Italian dishes. Gather plants of all the Italian herbs and group them in an Italian herb garden.
Plant basil for a useful flavor-workhorse in Italian cuisine. Not only does basil dress up sauces and pesto, but also the plant has properties that help its neighbors in the garden. Planting it between tomatoes and peppers imparts flavor to both the tomatoes and peppers. Basil plants also repel flies and mosquitoes.
Italian sausages are often flavored with fennel seed. Fennel plants lose their flavor as they mature. Divide fennel plants every few years and replant to encourage the flavorful new growth. Collect the seeds and use in breads as well as homemade sausages. Fennel is a perennial.
Any Italian herb garden needs to have garlic. Plant a garlic clove in virtually any soil and watch it thrive even with little attention. Harvest mature garlic heads in the fall and store them in the refrigerator or freezer. You can pickle garlic or hang to dry, though the individual cloves of hung garlic will send up shoots and want to grow after a time.
The small, shrubby oregano is flavorful, aromatic and pretty, with small purple flowers. Wait to harvest the leaves until after flowering, when the flavor is the most powerful. Oregano is recognizable in most Italian tomato-based sauces as well as pesto.
Parsley has a strong taste, and may seem bitter. But before breath mints, people chewed parsley leaves to overcome the strong odors left from eating garlic. The tradition of using a sprig of parsley as garnish stems from this halitosis-fighting use. Parsley can be difficult to grow and is a biennial, meaning it takes two years for the plant to mature. This herb adds a light, spicy taste to sauces and rice dishes.
Sage leaves add a pungent flavor to meats, salads and sauces. Prune sage plants closely after flowering to encourage flavorful new growth. Sage is unhappy in extreme heat and prefers well-drained soil. Sage works well in containers and will grow indoors in strong light.
Famous in song with parsley and sage, rosemary is a tough perennial with tiny evergreen leaves. Rosemary prefers dry soils and mild temperatures. Protect from frost or plant in a pot to bring indoors during winter. The masses of white to purple flowers produced on rosemary draw bees to the whole garden. Leaves can be stripped from the twigs or used on the twig.
Many more herbs can be included in an Italian-themed herb garden, but consider first which herbs you are likely to use. Each plant may have different growing needs of water and sunlight. Even if you do not use your Italian herbs for cooking as fast as they can grow, these herbs add color and texture to any garden landscape. The aroma from a few crushed leaves can carry you away to Tuscany on a mini-vacation. Plant your Italian herb garden all in one place, or scatter throughout your landscaping. You will enjoy a flavor of Italy.
Herb Garden Plants
Many different plants grown in flower and vegetable gardens fall under the heading of ‘herb.’ Herbs are any flowering plants grown for their culinary, aromatic or medicinal properties. Each herb garden plant may have differing soil, water and sunlight needs, so research each herb you wish to plant before grouping herbs together. The lifetime of an herb can be annual, biennial or perennial.
Herbs that live for only one growing season are called annuals. Each spring, you will need to replant annual herb garden plants, such as basil, cilantro and summer savory, if grown outdoors. An annual living indoors on a windowsill is safe from frost and may live multiple growing seasons, beyond its natural lifetime. Annual herbs can be grown from seed or planted as starts from a nursery.
Perennial means the herb will survive cold winter temperatures to grow and flower year after year. Winter savory, sage and lavender are examples of perennial herb garden plants. Mint will also return every year, though the leaves and stems die back to the ground with frost.
Biennial herbs are similar to annuals except they live for two years; in their first growing season they form leaves, and in the second season they bloom then die after going to seed. Examples of biennial herb garden plants are caraway, angelica and parsley.
Many herb gardeners begin with culinary herbs. These plants and their uses are probably the most familiar. Parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, chives, oregano, basil and cilantro are often used to add flavor to food. Fresh herbs have much stronger flavor than dried herbs, and should be used sparingly. Study the spice shelf at the store and note how many come from plants you can grow in an herb garden.
Herb garden plants that have flowers or foliage with a pleasant smell are known as aromatic herbs. Essential oils of rosemary, lovage, mint and lavender can be used in products ranging from bath oils and perfumes to candles. Whole, dried aromatic herbs can scent linens or be included in potpourri mixtures, retaining their scent for long periods of time. Lemon verbena and lavender are popular aromatic herb garden plants.
People have been using herbs as medicine for countless generations. Modern pharmaceuticals are synthesized chemicals often based in herbal origins and only stretch back a little over a century. Medicines are derived from leaves, stems, roots and seeds of a wide variety of plants. Echinacea, kinnikinnick, Oregon Grape and mint are familiar landscape plants used as medicinal herbs. Unregulated by the FDA, medicinal herbs can interact dangerously with prescription medications and should only be used under the direction of an experienced herbalist or naturopathic physician.
While many herbs cover all three herbal categories of flavor, scent and medicine, such as mint, herb garden plants may be planted simply to enjoy their beauty, from uniquely colored foliage to bright sprigs of flowers. Borage, chicory and valerian are often planted for their ornamental value. Lavender is a popular herb to plant in drought-prone areas of a garden. Mint is happy in soggy areas.
Learning the potential of each herb garden plant is part of the wonderful discovery of growing herbs. From a single-season windowsill project to an outdoor perennial garden for food, medicine, ornamental and aromatic joy, herb garden plants are exciting to study and grow.
Herb Garden Kits Make it Easy
You may wish to grow herbs but have no idea how to get started. The dizzying variety of herbs and their varied needs makes this hesitation understandable. Plants are living things, and gardeners want to give their plants what they need to survive from the beginning. Growing herbs from herb garden kits simplifies the gardener’s job by providing for individual herb needs with full instructions.
Herb garden kits make growing herbs a snap. The advantage of having herbs in a pot nearby indoors is obvious when you need to add just a dash of fresh herbs to your supper. No need to go outside to the garden to pinch what you need off the windowsill. Harvesting and preserving herbs for later is easy too.
Kits provide an advantage over assembling individual herb plants from a nursery. Kits often offer recipes for using the herbs. Websites that sell herb kits may have recipes as well as newsletters that provide information useful to the new herb gardener.
The large variety of herbs to choose from adds another advantage to a kit is the ability to specialize your herb garden. Kits can be specialized into Italian or German herbs, herbs for salsa or tea, common culinary herbs or international herbs, to give just a few examples. Herb garden kits will vary for the herbs included, but many items will be common between all kits.
Basic items in every kit will be herb seeds and planters for growing the herbs. All herb kits are slightly different, but you can expect most kits to include potting soil or media such as pellets for easy seed planting and growing.
Kits have another advantage over purchasing the plants at a nursery; they come with instructions. A quality herb garden kit will provide the grower with easy to follow, detailed instructions to remove guesswork from growing these often exotic plants. Follow directions and your herbs should grow successfully.
A dome for trapping moisture and ensuring constant temperature may be included with the kit. Herb garden plants need humidity and consistent temperatures for growing strong roots and to thrive. All kits are different, but most are compact for growing in a small space, perfect for apartments; one dome will often cover all the plants in the kit that need humid conditions.
Growing herbs outdoors can be an exercise in frustration for new herb gardeners. The right placement for herbs to get the right amount of sunlight is difficult to judge. Soils must be amended for proper drainage. Rain can over-water plants that grow better in dry climates. Some perennials can become annuals if they aren’t moved indoors for winter. Consistent growing conditions you can provide indoors take away worries about winterization and allows you to pluck fresh herbs even in the winter.
When you learn more about herbs and are confident about growing them outdoors in your garden you gain a sense of accomplishment. Getting to that point takes work and dedication and study. A painless way to get started is with an herb garden kit. The difficult parts of planting, soil amendment, watering and light are controlled, allowing you to simply enjoy your growing herb plants and the spice they bring to your life. Stay with kits, pots on the windowsill, or move up to growing them outdoors once you understand what to expect from the herbs you prefer to grow. You’ll soon be an herb growing expert!
