Indoor Herb Garden

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This year I decided to bring my herb garden indoors.  I recently finished my window herb garden so that I can have easy access to three herbs in the kitchen.  I chose cilantro, tarragon, and sage for my 3 herbs, but you can also use herbs such as:  parsley, thyme, mint, dill and basil. Be careful of the type of basil you plant as these can sometimes grow a few feet tall (such as Genovese).  Make sure you check the packaging to find out which herbs grow best in full sun versus partial shade.  Most herbs grow best in full sun, but herbs such as mint can grow in partial shade.  Try to group plants that have similar requirements. There are several things you will need to buy for your indoor herb garden:

• 2-4 small garden pots (if they do not have holes in the bottom, you will need to drill a hole in the bottom for drainage.  For terra cotta pots, make sure you use a masonry drill bit).  I bought my pots at Target.
• A clear tray to hold the water under the pots (you can also add gravel to this area to help with retaining moisture).  I also bought a more decorative tray made of bamboo to make my window sill look nicer.
• Good quality potting soil
• Seeds
• Small potting shovel

For immediate results, you can buy the starter plants at your local garden center (I chose to watch my seeds grow).  Pick a special window for your herb garden.  Windows with full sun in the morning are the best windows to grow an herb garden.  Plant your seeds according to the packaging.  Make sure you don’t over crowd your seeds and spread them out evenly.  Place your seeds in the window and watch them grow.  Once you have an established herb garden, snip away to keep the herbs growing back faster and to keep the herbs under control.

Note:  To keep water from evaporating quickly in a full sun window, add small pond rocks/gravel to the water tray.  Adding rocks slows down evaporation and keeps the immediate area humid.