Home Herb Garden Advice

Growing herbs in pots or a container is a great choice if you have limited garden space or wish to keep your herbs indoors. Having the ability to move your herbs around either outside or from inside to outside as the weather changes is a major benefit. My mother has a small yard but a large driveway and she’s planted many plants and herbs in large containers and placed them on her driveway. Turning a large heat absorbing blacktop into a beautiful garden that is at just the right height for her to work on without stressing her arthritic knees.

When you start growing herbs in pots there are five critical differences you need to make sure you attend to versus when growing herbs in an outdoor garden in the ground. These difference will help to make sure that your herbs grow as vibrant and healthy as possible.

1. Size

When choosing a pot or a container to grow your herb its important to not over fill the pot with to much of the plant. There needs to be adequate room for each individual plant to develop a proper root system and receive proper sunlight. Look at the herbs spacing requirements, the seed packaging typically gives you the distance you need when you first plant the seeds (on average about 1 – 2 inches) and then the space required once the herb has emerged to a specific height (on average 1 – 2 inches in height). For example if you plant an herb with a suggested spacing of 6 inches you want to make sure you have a pot that will accommodate about half that distance. Herbs grown in containers typically do not grow as large as those planted in the ground.

2. Drainage

As with any type of gardening the soil you plant in is of the utmost importance. All herbs like well drained soil and don’t do well in heavily compacted soil. When growing in a pot remember to put gravel at the bottom at about a depth of 1 inch. Mix the soil so its two parts potting soil and one part coarse sand. For large containers fill the very bottom with empty soda cans then place a layer of weed barrier cloth which will help the soil from falling through and washing out. Then put your layer of gravel and finally topping it with your soil mix. The cans take up un-used space and save you on the expensive soil that would just sit way at the bottom and never get used.

3. Sweeten the Soil

Herbs enjoy a nice sweet soil so add one teaspoon of lime juice for every 5 inches of depth. This will sweeten the soil and help your herbs grow to healthy and vibrant. This is a trick that is hard to do with an outdoor garden as the lime juice would be overly diluted to make it of any worth.

4. Watering and Humidity

Obviously plants in containers have different watering requirements as they can only rely on the water that enters their container. To promote the proper amount of humidity that an herb plant requires make sure to keep the gravel at the bottom of the pot or container moist. One option is to put the pot on a plate with a little bit of standing water. Make sure to not put to much as you don’t want the bottom soil to be soaking and you want to make sure the water you put in from above can properly drain. Misting the leaves of the herbs will also help.

5. Movement

It is very important to move the herbs growing in pots around from time to time. You might need to simply spin the pot 180 degrees so that the other side gets proper sunlight. If you notice the plants leaning over towards the window turn them so they lean back the other way and straighten out. Also remember that perennials planted in pots or containers need to spend a bit of time outdoors during the summer months and don’t forget some perennials could use a quick frost outside to kick start some late season growth.

Following these critical differences when growing herbs in pots will help you to make a vibrant and healthy herb garden. Remember to research what is required for each individual herb that you choose to grow in a pot and enjoy your herb garden whether indoors or out.

Author: Liz Sullivan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Cellphone news