Planting a Potted Herb Garden

No space for a conventional vegetable garden? Plant a potted herb garden – it’s simple and makes for a healthy and rewarding hobby.

Benefits of Herb Gardening

• Herb gardens are easier to maintain than vegetable gardens and require less space, perfect for those who live in tight quarters.
• Herbs vary in shapes, sizes, and aromas – enjoy the scenery and the scents.
• Tend to an herb garden and reduce stress; eat fresh herbs and give your body essential nutrients.
• Save money by plucking herbs off a private supply rather than buying bunches at the store.
• Contribute to a healthy environment. Using homegrown herbs requires no packaging, unlike store-bought herbs. To feed the herbs, use compost made from decaying vegetable or other organic matter.

Materials Needed to Plant an Herb Garden

• Herb starter plants or seeds. They can be purchased from most garden centers. Choose the herbs used most often in favorite recipes. Common easy-to-grow herbs include basil, sage, and mint. Different herbs have different needs, so read the labels of the herb plants or seeds before buying. Note whether the herbs are perennial, which come back every year, or annuals, which last only a year.
• Pots. Plant herbs in pots that are eight inches to two feet in diameter. Clay pots are best; aside from being all-natural, they allow the herbs’ roots to breathe. Once herbs reach their maximum growth potential, transplant them into larger pots to give them more room to grow.
• Soil and fertilizer. Some soil is enriched with fertilizer specifically for nurturing herbs. Organic vegetable fertilizer is best because it lasts long and is properly balanced to prevent overfeeding.
• Water. Essential to growing herbs is proper watering. Catch rain water and save it for watering an herb garden. For less-maintenance, use regular tap water from an un-salted filtered source.
• Sunshine. Most herbs thrive with four to six hours of sunshine daily.

Planting Herbs

Pour soil into the pots and dig a hole large enough to hold the herb starter plants. For herb seeds, place the seed deep enough into the soil to avoid erosion, but not too deep that the sprouting plant cannot penetrate the top soil. Read the labels for proper sowing techniques.

Water herbs immediately after planting. Thereafter, as a general rule of thumb, water when the soil is dry to the touch. Avoid over-watering herbs, which may result in root rot. Place potted herbs in a warm sunny place, such as a deck or patio. If opting for the indoor herb garden, a sunny window sill should suffice.

Harvesting Herbs

Enjoy homegrown herbs as soon as the plants reach six to eight inches tall. Simply cut one-third of the branches at a leaf or stem intersection. Remove old branches and leaves and pinch off flowers to promote re-growth.

Do not use damaged or discolored leaves or flowers, but remove them from your herb plant. To clean herbs after harvesting them, simply rinse them with water and pat or air dry; scrubbing the herbs removes their essential oils and damages them.

After plucking the herbs, use them in favorite recipes to reap the nutritional benefits; arrange them in a potpourri to maximize their aromatic properties; determine their holistic attributes to relieve ailments; or tie a ribbon around a bunch and give them as a gift. Regardless of the purpose, herb gardening will prove to be a satisfying pastime.

Sources: The Cook’s Herb Garden, Jeff Cox and Marie-Pierre Morine, DK Publishing, 2010; The Beginner’s Guide to Edible Herbs, Charles W.G. Smith, Storey Publishing, 2010.