Nothing enhances home cooking more than home grown produce. Whether you are whipping up a curry, throwing together a salad or cooking a roast, a sprinkling of homegrown herbs will add a punch of flavour. Fresh herbs also have multiple health benefits and many are rich in vitamins and iron. No wonder, then that herb gardens have become so popular once more. Indoor herb gardens are a good option if you lack outdoor space and they can make your home smell divine! So, let’s dive straight in with our top tips on how to create an indoor herb garden:
Choosing the Right Herbs
You can grow herbs indoors from seed, seedling or from cuttings. When selecting herbs for your indoor garden start by choosing ones you are most likely to use. Most herbs will grow indoors, some of the hardiest are mint, lemongrass, chives, parsley, sage, basil, thyme, oregano and bay. Some herbs (mint and sage in particular) are invasive, which means they will quickly swamp an area and smother other plants. It is best to keep these in separate pots away from other herbs.
Picking The Perfect Spot
It makes sense to have your herb garden in the kitchen, close at hand, to help garnish your culinary creations, but, if your kitchen does not benefit from at least 6 hours of sunlight a day then the herbs might not thrive. Choose a sunny spot, a windowsill or table and make sure that natural daylight is able to reach the area.
The Right Containers
Hardy herbs are not terribly fussy about what kind of container they grow in, but they don’t like to be saturated in water so make sure there are drainage holes. Of course, drainage holes means that excess water will escape from the bottom of the pots so make sure you protect your surface by using a tray to collect the extra water that will drain through.
Watering
Whilst we are on the subject of water, herbs, like most plants do need regular watering. Don’t over water but try to keep the soil moist. Top Tip: We have used glass watering globes with great success. The water is drawn out of the globe as the plant requires it and because they are transparent you can easily see when the water needs to be topped up.
Feeding
All plants can benefit from a little boost, add some liquid fertiliser to keep your herbs leafy and lush. Top tip: Use liquid seaweed for an occasional extra boost.
Pruning and Repotting
Depending on the variety, you may need to prune your herbs to ensure regrowth. As the plants thrive they may need to be divided and re-potted to enable continued growth.
Herb Garden Kits
There are a variety of indoor herb garden kits available in store and online, ranging from the ornamental to the practical. One of our favourites is the eco-friendly, organic herb growing kit from peacewiththewild.co.uk
Herbs tend to be relatively fast growers, so you should be able to start enjoying the fruits of your labours any time after 4 weeks, depending on the variety. So, the sooner you start, the sooner you will be rewarded!
