Growing a Kitchen Herb Garden
Growing an herb garden in your kitchen can be one of the most rewarding endeavors of any type of gardening. In the old days, every home came equipped with its own garden, where people grew vegetables and fruits and herbs for both cooking and medicinal purposes.
In most houses, such gardens were grown in the rear of a yard or side yard, but today’s space considerations make such luxuries impossible for many people. When faced with limited space and growing area, a kitchen garden grown in pots in containers inside the house provides innumerable benefits.
Growing herbs in containers offers several advantages. They are movable and containers may offer herbs of various sizes and growing temperaments a temporary home while choosing the best permanent location. Container growing makes herb growing possible for many people who don’t have ground space.
For some plants, like the ever-invasive mint, containers are the only option left to those who wish to enjoy the benefits of growing an herb garden where ground space is limited. When planting herbs in a pot, choose containers that are at least a one-gallon capacity. You can use milk jugs or large coffee cans as temporary growing containers as well. Each herb plant will need its own gallon of soil. So, if you plant several together, make sure they have enough growing space as well as adequate soil.
In the old days, gardens were meant to be utilitarian, and it didn’t matter whether or not they were attractive. These days, however, gardeners want both.
Today, kitchen gardens can be designed for their ornamental value as well as their usefulness in different areas of daily living. When it comes to planning any type of gardening for use in cooking, or medicinal purposes, convenience is a key factor.
For example, if you use herbs every day when cooking dinner, you don’t necessarily want to traipse to the back of a yard to pluck a few sprigs every time you cook. For such situations, it is best to design an herb garden that is easy to get to in all kinds of weather, as well as one that is adapted for your convenience.
In addition, when planning areas or locations for a kitchen garden, gardeners should also take into consideration what types of herbs you’ll be growing and what kind of growing conditions those herbs prefer. For example, herbs that like dry or hotter soil might do better placed on the south side of the house or apartment. Other herbs prefer shade and moist soil conditions.
For those who don’t have the luxury of any yard space, herbs can be grown in containers and then placed wherever light conditions are most suitable for any particular plant and where it is easy to reach from the kitchen area.
For example, some herbs that are grown indoors like windowsills, and are perfectly content with limited sunlight conditions. These plants and herbs can be grown all year long, though these herbs and plants will grow more slowly or during the winter. Nevertheless, if temperatures remained fairly constant inside the house or room where they are grown, herbs grown in containers will do just as well and be just as flavorful as those grown outside.
If at all possible, herbs that are grown on windowsills during the winter can be transplanted outside into a garden or moved into outdoor pots in the spring, if desired.
Listed below are several common herbs that actually like to live on windowsills, such as:
Aloe - especially likes south facing windows. This herb requires low water and can be grown in a six to twelve inch pot.
Mint - likes a south or east facing window and likes very moist soil. Pot measurements should be between eight and ten inches in size.
Rosemary - also likes a south or east facing window and slightly moist soil. Pots for rosemary should also be eight to twelve inches in size.
Sage - likes a south or east facing window and moist soil conditions. Pots containing sage should be between eight and twelve inches for best growing conditions.
Tarragon - also likes a south or east-facing window. Tarragon likes moist soil and should also be placed in pots between eight and twelve inches in size.
Lemongrass - like most other herbs, prefers an Easter south facing window and moist soil as well as a pot ten to twelve inches in size.
While there are dozens of other types of herbs that will grow perfectly well on a windowsill, always make sure that they do get adequate light, and that you are aware of water needs and soil conditions as well as fertilizers that will enable your herbs to grow faster. We’ll talk more about that later.
When growing herbs indoors, there are certain considerations that cannot be ignored. The first and most important is that adequate light is provided for optimal growth. In many locations, there isn’t enough sunlight during winter months to enhance the growth of your herbs, although they will survive indoors. If you are serious about growing herbs indoors and have the space, consider a small room or closet that can be equipped with light fixtures, such as fluorescent tubes or cool white or daylight bulbs that will help plants to actually grow during the winter season.
Copyright © Larry Gildea, All Rights Reserved.
Dr. Larry Gildea has authored several articles on gardening. Dr. Gildea has created these gardening websites, http://www.gardeningbonanza.com, Gardening Bonanza.com covers many types of gardening, including, bonsai design and cultivation, container gardening, flower gardening, rose gardening, hydroponics gardening and several others.
http://www.organicgardensystems.com
OrganicGardenSystems.com is dedicated exclusively to organic gardening. And in his blog, http://larryseasygardening.com . Dr. Gildea discusses all types of gardening
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