Indoor Herb Container Gardening is Fun and Easy

Indoor herb container gardening is a convenient way to garden indoors, especially for those that live in zones with short growing seasons.

Even those of us in milder zones love the thought of having fresh herbs like parsley and chives to use for garnish throughout the winter months.

Who wouldn't want a pinch of rosemary or basil to add flavor and aroma to your special dish all winter long?

Other herbs that grow well inside are chervil, dill, marjoram, mint, sage and thyme.

Below are a few tips to get you started with your indoor herb container garden.

Indoor Herb Container Gardening Tips For Beginners

• Glassed-in sunrooms and balconies make great places to grow herbs since they create a hothouse environment.
• Argo grow lights, pictured below, are a great alternative.
  

AeroGarden's NASA-tested aeroponic technology grows plants in water, nutrients and air. It works so simply that anyone can succesfully grow.

It adjust water, nutrients and light automatically to give you 50% larger yields. You may want to purchase their Aerogarden Gourmet Herb Seed Kit, the Aerogarden Salsa Seed Kitor the Aerogarden: Baby Greens Seed Kit to go along with it.

• A sunny window ledge also works well. Southeast facing windows that get at least 5 hours sun a day is recommended. You'll need about a 5 " sill to accommodate the terra-cotta pot and drainage dish. Place as close to the window as possible for maximum light absorption. You'll know if your plant isn't getting enough light if it gets leggy and spindly, or its lower leaves turn yellow and drop. Also, if your plant stops putting out new growth you may need to move it to a sunnier location.
• Use terra cotta pots for you containers, or a long single container which will hold several plants. For indoor herb container gardening, your container needs to be at least 6 - 12 inches deep.
• Herbs need good drainage and rich soilless container mix obtained online or at your local garden center.
• Purchase herb seeds online if you can't find them locally or if you want to experiment with different varieties not available locally.
• Before adding soil to your container, be sure and add a shallow layer of drainage material like gravel, crushed rocks or shards (broken pieces from an old clay pot) to the bottom of the container.
• Add 2 or 3 inches potting soil to your container.
• Place your herb plants in your container. Loosen any roots that are growing in a circle (this indicates a root-bond plant)
• Continue adding potting mix until root ball is covered leaving about 1 inch at the top for watering. Firm the soil gently as you go.
• Water just enough to get the plant damp, not soaking. Over watering is the most common mistake. Always check moisture content before watering. Stick your finger down into the soil about an inch. If it is dry, water the plant.
• Fertilize once a month with an organic fertilizer such as fish emulsion.

This should give you a good start on indoor herb container gardening. If you would like some great books on indoor herb gardening, you may like some of the books that I used to help me research this information.

Great Books on Herb Gardening

One of my favorite books on gardening with herbs is Encyclopedia Of Herb Gardening This book with over 250 pages covers everything from planning and design of your herb garden to preserving, storing and using your herbs. Includes many wonderful illustrations.

The Herb Society of America's Essential Guide to Growing and Cooking With Herbs is another great book that is my newest favorite. Put out by the Herb Society of America, this book is full of herb gardening advice as well as excellent recipes. Not a lot of illustrations in this book, but the information is superb.

With information such as what herbs do well on kitchen windows, which part of a lemongrass plant has the best flavor, what foods compliment rosemary, all the guesswork is taken out of using herbs in your kitchen.

The fact that it is compiled from members of The Herb Society of America, means that you can trust its contents.

In this newly edited book, you will have access to charts on growing and using herbs, cooking and crafting ideas, how to harvest, dry and store your herbs, lots of great resources for supplies, and of course information on indoor container herb gardening.

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