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Tips for Growing a Fabulous Indoor Herb Garden
Indoor gardeningYou don’t have to have a big garden or even warm weather outdoors to grow your own herbs. You can grow herbs indoors year-round!
Some of the best indoor herbs are kitchen staples:
With a little attention to detail and planning, you can enjoy the scent and fresh taste of herbs all year round.
Tips for Growing an Indoor Herb Garden
Light
The most important factor for successfully growing herbs inside is light, so let’s start there. If your herbs don’t get enough light, they might not survive. Even if they do, they won’t thrive. They run the risk of growing spindly and tasteless as they expend all their energy in trying to grow towards the light. For these reasons, light should be your first priority.
Maybe you’ve got a sunny south-facing windowsill you’re planning to use for your herb garden. That’s a great start. Unless it gets a full 6-8 hours of strong sunlight, it’s not going to be enough, though. Don’t worry, though. It’s easy to provide the light needed. You don’t have to invest in fancy grow lights. Light is light, after all. Cool fluorescent lights placed 6-15 inches away from your plants will be perfect. For every hour of natural sunlight that your plants need, provide about 2 hours of artificial light. That works out to be around 14-16 hours. And don’t forget to rotate your plants occasionally so they get even exposure!
Temperature
You should also consider temperature and humidity when creating an indoor herb garden. Herbs do best under 70 degrees. Don’t dry your plants out by placing them too near a radiator. Keeping your plant pots together can create a little extra humidity, as well as keeping your herb pots on a tray of stones filled with water. This will help your herbs stay lush and tasty.
Water & Drainage
Herbs need good drainage for healthy growth. Make sure your pots all have drainage holes, and opt for clay pots whenever possible. The clay is more porous so that water and moisture don’t stay trapped. Plant your herbs in a medium with good drainage, and only water when the potting mix starts to dry out. If you’re growing rosemary indoors in a pot, take especial care not to let the growing medium dry out completely.
Fertilizing Your Herbs
Fertilizing will help your indoor herbs to grow, but be careful not to overdo it. Over-fertilizing an herb is much more damaging than under-fertilizing. A low dose of water-soluble fertilizer no more often than every two weeks should be sufficient. Any more than that, and you risk damaging the flavor profile of your herbs. No one likes tasteless herbs!
See how easy it is to grow your own herb garden inside? With a little practice, all of these tricks will soon seem like second nature. You’ll never go back once you get spoiled on having a sunny taste of zesty herbs at your fingertips year round!
Written by Teresa Chandler
