Growing herbs indoors allows you to add fresh, homegrown flavours to your cooking year-round, even if you don’t have a garden. Whether you’re new to gardening, or you’re looking for an extra gardening project, then an indoor herb garden is great for you, as they just require a bit of water and a sunny window.
Keep reading as we help you get your indoor herb garden started.
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Pick the Right Plants
While most herbs can be grown indoors, there are some that are particularly well-suited for it. From our experience, basil, chives, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, and thyme do particularly well, but feel free to experiment. While we have grown chives and rosemary from seed, it takes months for them to become properly established, so we’d recommend that you buy already established seedlings from the shop so that you can start using them straight away.
While you’re out shopping for the right herbs for your indoor garden, you might like to pick up some vegetable seeds to start an indoor vegetable garden too!
Select a Container with Drainage
Herbs can be planted in nearly any container as long as it has good drainage. We’d recommend choosing a container with a small drainage hole in the bottom, and then placing a saucer underneath it to catch any drips.
We would recommend choosing a container which is about 5cm wider than your current plant’s width to give it enough room to grow in the future. Although it’s related to balcony gardening, our advice about choosing the best pot for your plants is a good read if you’d like more information about choosing a container.
Choose the Sunniest Spot
Herbs need plenty of direct sunlight to thrive, ideally having at least 6 hours per day.We’d recommend positioning your plants as close to a bright, south-facing window as possible, avoiding central room locations or north-facing windows, as they won’t provide enough light. If you’re looking for your herbs to keep growing well in winter, then we’d recommend purchasing a grow light or LED light to support your plants.
Watering Your Herbs
What surprised us the first time that we grew herbs was how little water they require, with a small plant only needing about half a glass of water per week. The aim is to keep the soil slightly moist but not waterlogged as this causes the roots to rot in the soil.
It’s worth keeping an eye on the leaves of your plant as it grows, as they’re an easy way to know if the plant is unhappy. If the leaves are turning yellow and are starting to wilt, then you’re likely watering your herbs too much.
Harvesting
When you want to use some of your herbs or your plant is becoming too big, you can either use kitchen scissors or your fingers to pinch off leaves or sprigs. We’d recommend using less than a quarter of the plant at a time, as any more can cause the plant too much stress, eventually killing it.
Conclusion
By following our tips, you can create a thriving indoor herb garden and enjoy fresh herbs for your cooking all year long. If you’re looking to start an indoor garden, take a look at our guides to growing spinach and other vegetables indoors. Alternatively, take a look at our guide to growing plants in grow bags if you have some outdoor space.
