Windowsills with a southern exposure are ideal for growing potted herbs, but other directions are fine as long as the plants receive a minimum of 5 hours of direct sunlight. Don’t worry if your windowsill doesn’t have this much sun. Purchase a fluorescent grow-light to supplement your plant’s UV exposure. You’ll need to leave the light on for at least 10 hours, and the plants will need to be within 18 inches of the bulbs.

The size of your windowsill will limit the size of containers that work best in a windowsill garden. The average size container that works best for average windowsills is a 4 inch or 6 inch pot. The type of container is up to you as long as it has a hole for proper drainage.

Light, well-draining soil is ideal for growing herbs in pots. Begin with a sterile commercial potting mix and combine two parts soil with one part perlite, or three parts soil with one part sand. If transplanting nursery starts rather than growing from seed, fill the container one-third of the way, place the plant inside and fill the rest of the way. Keep the soil surface about an inch lower than the edge of your container.

The goal is to keep the soil moist enough for the plant to draw water as needed but not to soak the soil. For most herbs, watering lightly every other day is enough. You can water from the top or use a saucer to hold water at the bottom of the pot-the herbs will draw up the water they need. Allow dry periods for the bottom of your containers. Many herbs prefer not to have “wet feet.” If the top of the soil does not feel dry to the touch, the herb does not need more water.

Compact plants will do best on a windowsill. Some herbs grow up to five feet tall, so it pays to do a little research. As you use your herbs, the harvesting you do will prune them and help them to stay small. Think about what you want out of your windowsill herb garden. You can choose to grow culinary herbs, tea herbs, or aromatic herbs. Common useful herbs grown in windowsill gardens are basil, oregano, mint, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

Feed your herbs every six to eight weeks. Add necessary nutrients to the potting mix by offering compost tea or straight compost or other “edibles-safe” fertilizer. Read and follow all instructions. Due to slower growing times, herbs do not need as much food during the winter. Well-fed herbs will reward you with a richer harvest.

Plants need time to get used to the lighting available on your windowsill. Healthy root systems take a bit of time to establish. When you see new growth budding on your herbs, then you know it is safe to begin harvesting. Experiment with your fresh windowsill herbs to find the right proportions for the recipe at hand-fresh herbs have a much stronger flavor than dried herbs.

Dried flowers from either German chamomile or Roman chamomile will give a gentle-flavored tea. Harvest the button-like mature flowers of this annual and dry them on a screen. Prolific as all daisy-like flowers, chamomile can be invasive if the flowers are not harvested. Chamomile will reseed itself once it is established in the garden. Chamomile likes full sun and well-drained soil.

Sage tea can be made from either fresh-picked sage leaves or you can dry the leaves. Drying makes the flavor more pungent. Sage prefers well-drained soil rich in nitrogen and plenty of sun, though in hotter planting zones it might like partial shade to avoid the heat. Prune after flowering; sage flowers in mid-summer. Indoors, sage requires strong direct light.

More well-known as a culinary spice, fennel can be used for tea. Officially a perennial, fennel dies off in colder climates. Multiple plantings will help extend the harvest; sow seeds in the early spring and make a second planting in mid-summer. Harvest the feathery leaves and the seeds to brew a licorice-flavored tea.

Lemon verbena will survive the winter outdoors in warmer climates, but for most growing hardiness zones in the Unites States, you’ll need to move the plant inside. Verbena likes well-drained light soil and full sun. Lemon balm is a member of the mint family and may or may not overwinter outside; it likes shade and water like many other mints.

All members of the mint family are familiar tea herb gardening plants – peppermint, spearmint, orange mint, wintergreen, menthol, catnip, as well as bee balm and lemon balm. Moist shaded soils are best for mint. Mint is notoriously invasive, so consider growing it in pots or in sunken containers. If you live in a colder zone, in the late summer you can move mints indoors to enjoy their fresh flavor all year. Use leaves fresh or dried for tea. Bee balm is a perennial mint plant native to the eastern U.S. and Canada. Use the bright, spiky flowers and the leaves for a tea with citrus and spice accents.

The mature ovaries of the rose are called rose hips. High in vitamin C, rose hips make a nutritious tea. All roses make hips, but Rosa rugosa is commonly used for tea. If you plan to harvest rose hips for tea, do not use pesticides on the plant. When the hips turn bright red, harvest them. Slice the skin of the hips around the outside to speed drying. You can release more of the nutrients and flavor if you crush the dried rose hip before you make tea.

Do some research to discover which part of your herbs make the best tea. For some it will be the bark or twigs, for others the leaves, seeds, flowers, or even roots. Harvest herbs on a sunny morning after the dew has dried. Perennial herbs should not be disturbed one month prior to the first frost but annuals can be harvested up until the frost arrives. Tea herb gardening can be a soothing, healthy experience.

The idea of having tiny versions of every herb at your fingertips is appealing. Pruning and pinching will keep plants compact and bushy, but some herbs are meant to grow three feet tall. A mini herb garden is a collection of herbs grown in a compact space. Confining the herbs to a small planting bed or to a collection of pots will make your herb garden miniature. Potted herbs grow well both indoors and out with the right amounts of light, water and proper soil.

Without available yard space for an in-ground herb garden, you can grow a mini herb garden in pots right on your deck or patio or balcony. Lining the available space with several pots, one herb plant per pot is one way, but no law says you can’t plant more than one plant in the same pot. Herbs with similar sunlight and water needs will do just fine planted together. Choose a pot with a wide mouth for this mini garden. Basil, chives and parsley will grow well in the same pot. Strawberry jars with their multiple openings work very well for mini herb gardens and take very little space.

Windowsill gardens indoors will limit the size of pots. Choose pots 4 inches or smaller. The containers can match or not-it’s up to you. Place the potted herbs side by side in a single tray for a unified look. Pots can be plastic, terra cotta, or another material, as long as they have a drainage hole. Be sure your indoor herbs receive enough light. Grow-lights can be found at any garden store to supplement limited sunlight.

Single pots lined up side by side in a single layer will work or you can save space by stacking your pots. Mini herb garden kits online can include stackable, triangular pots that make a tower similar to a strawberry jar. Right on your kitchen counter in one square foot of space you can have up to fifteen fresh herbs.

For shade-loving herbs such as Cuban oregano, borage, parsley, chives, and mint family members, choose an east or north-facing window. The cooler temperatures will allow the soil to stay more moist.

You can use single pots for indoor mini herb gardens, or you can find stackable sets of miniature pots. Stackable pots can be found in online kits, creating a small tower with a footprint no larger than that of a strawberry jar.

Whether grown indoors or outdoors, your mini herb garden requires a well-draining potting soil mix to thrive. You’ll want to begin with a commercial potting mix. Add either one part sand to three parts potting mix or one part perlite to two parts potting mix. Read the growing directions carefully for each herb. Many herbs like the water to drain completely away from their pot rather than sitting in a puddle in their saucer. You can place stones or other spacers between the bottom of the pot and the saucer to allow room for the water to drain clear.

Hydroponic herb growing kits can be found online. You won’t have to get your hands dirty at all or put up with gnats or other bugs that might hatch in potted plants. In a hydroponics unit, the seeds sprout in a spongy felt-like material. The plant grows up toward a grow light or sunlight while the roots travel down into a nutrient-infused water chamber. Table-top size and even smaller windowsill versions are out there. Get creative and have fun with your mini herb garden!

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Beautiful large herb garden.

Growing your own fresh herbs will save you money. You could purchase fresh herbs from grocery or specialty stores, but if you’ve ever looked at prices, you know this is an expensive way to spice a dish. Invest in the right plants and fertilizer, plan your garden for the best use of available sunlight, and tend them carefully, and you’ll earn back any investment in the cost savings over purchasing your fresh herbs.

Fresh herbs bring more potent flavor to your table immediately after harvest. A brand new jar of dried or preserved spices is strong, but the longer the jar is open, the more taste the herbs lose. Not using your fresh herbs right away? You can keep them for up to a week by placing the cut stems in a glass of water in the refrigerator, just like fresh flowers. Place a loose plastic bag over the top of the herb bundle to hold in humidity, and snip off pieces as needed.

Whether you grow your herbs in an outdoor garden or choose one of many ways to grow herbs indoors, your herbs will be available for you to use any time you want. All herbs need to thrive is light, well-drained soil, a minimum of five hours of direct sunlight-or 10 hours of fluorescent grow-lighting-and proper watering. Some herb kits are designed with hydroponic growing equipment and techniques, meaning you never get dirt under your nails.

Another benefit of fresh herb gardening is the startling variety of herbs you can grow. Oregano alone has eight common culinary varieties. Exploring the subtleties of flavor found in different cultivars of familiar herbs will take you miles beyond the supermarket spice rack.

Processed herbs and spices lose the potency of healing properties over time. Fresh herbs contain antioxidants and other compounds in active states. Teas and tinctures for medicinal use are more powerful when made from fresh herbs. When measuring herbs for spicing a dish, you will want to use three times the amount of fresh herbs that you would use of dried. Remember that dried herbs lose the potency of their flavor over time, so be prepared for a stronger taste than you are used to. One tablespoon of fresh herb is fairly close to one teaspoon of freshly unpackaged dried herb.

Branch out to find multiple uses for your fresh herbs: aside from trimming leaves for cooking or adding to salads, you can integrate herbs into massage oil, use them to fragrance linens or a room. Some herbs work well as a natural, organic insect repellant.

Beyond the usefulness off herbs, gardening itself is a healthy pursuit. You can burn 120 calories with only 30 minutes of gardening activity. Raking, pruning, digging and other garden chores constitute moderate exercise. Working in the fresh air and sunshine caring for living plants is not only healthy but also relaxing and a great way to release stress.

Herb gardens are attractive even when scattered and disorganized, but for efficient harvesting of herbs, the productive herb garden needs a planned design. Walkways, compact-sized planting beds, and planned sun/shade exposure are three commonalities in herb garden designs.

The layout of your herb garden or multiple beds in your garden should take into account your need to harvest the herbs. Walkways or pathways between beds or within a larger garden plot will allow you to reach each herb. Paths can be grass, steppable groundcover plants, stone, gravel, wood-any flat surface wide enough to allow you to avoid damaging one plant to reach another.

Keep planting beds small. Planting herbs within the easy reach of your arm will allow you to reach all your herbs from your pathways without stepping on or between the plants. Circular plots, small squares, or rows of narrow rectangles are great shapes for your design. A potted herb garden makes keeping herbs within easy reach even easier.

Grouping herbs in the same bed according to their use will increase productivity. Place crafting herbs in one bed, medicinal herbs in another, culinary in a third, for example. Potted herbs can also be grouped and arranged so that all the spices are together or the flowers for crafting are grouped together.

Within your herb beds, you can further divide the herbs into how they are to be used. For example, marjoram, basil, lemon verbena, and peppermint area all medicinal herbs used for stomach upset. Group them together and you won’t need to reach far to get what you need. Creating an Italian dinner? If you’ve designed your culinary herb plot to group Italian spice herbs together, gathering the spices you need will be a snap.

Some herbs will need more sunlight than others. Ideal conditions often include 4 to 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. You can still plant your shade-loving herbs in a bed with sun-loving herbs if you arrange them so that taller, sun-loving herbs block the sunlight. Sunflowers are ideal for this-they love to hog the sunlight, and will protect more delicate leaves from the direct rays if planted on the southern side.

How will you be using your herbs? Large-scale productions such as commercial lavender farms need to simplify problems of harvest, weeding and pruning. Heavy landscaping cloth laid in rows, with small cut-outs for each plant, takes care of all three problems at once. Each plant is distanced from its neighbor to allow the farmer pathways between them. Planning and measuring before you plant, and knowing the needs of individual herbs, will increase your herb garden’s productivity no matter what herbs you grow.

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.

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.

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.

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.