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How to Grow an Herb Garden Indoors Year Round
HOW TO 
Tags: Herb Garden, Indoor Garden, Indoor Plants, Herb Gardening Year Round
If you love fresh spaghetti sauce or pesto, then you've just got to have fresh basil and other herbs all-year-round! Sure, a nice window garden getting at least 4 or 5 hours of direct light from a sunny window will give you something to pinch here and there. Gardens with mint, rosemary, bay leaf, savory, oregano, chervil, and thyme are some of the easiest to grow this way.
| 1. | Provide adequate light. The goal is a vegetative light cycle (18 hours on), with eight or more hours of direct sun or bright artificial light. If you need lots of a herb, you will need to take care of the herb's lighting needs. For example, basil and coriander ('cilantro') need just a bit more light, and really prefer 8 hours or more of direct light each day. In addition to this, if you want fresh pesto, just a pinch here and there is not going to cut it. |
| 2. | Select the proper soil. Some herbs grow better, or should be grown in, poor soil, as they can have a stronger flavour when grown in poor soil. The oils in herbs make them special. Very fast growing herbs often grow plain leaves and stems more quickly than they can produce tasty essential oils. Often you will hear "basil grows better in poor soil" or "your basil will taste better if you don't fertilize". What is really meant here is, "don't grow your basil too fast" (basil is an example to which this applies). |
| 3. | Correctly set up your containers. When growing in a container it is a little different. The plant still needs some food to grow, and when that food runs out you will need to fertilize. However, as you will see next, this is all taken into consideration together with the growth habits of your herbs |
| 4. | Know when to water. If you feel the top of the soil and it is dry, you need to water. Another way to tell is to pick up the container and check how heavy it is. Your herbs like their soil to drain fast. You need to have containers with holes in the bottoms, and you need to add a layer of broken roof tiles (slate is ideal) or other small flat stones or a centimetre or so of perlite or gravel to the bottom of each container as you transplant. It is best to water thoroughly but less often. Water the container until some water comes out the bottom. |
| 5. | Start feeding your plants after 10 or so days. When the herbs have been in any container for ten days or more, you need to begin feeding them. In a container, the roots are stuck in a small space and quickly mine it free of any nutrients, especially if you have been going easy on the nutrients to begin with. Feed with half-strength nutrient such as Maxsea 16-16-16 every two weeks. |
| 6. | Give an additional boost to your herbs. If you really want to keep your plants healthy, it is recommended to use 10 ml/gallon Thrive Alive B1 ( B1 plant mix) and Maxicrop liquid seaweed in every drop of water you give to your plants. The B1 consists of vitamins and root hormones, and the seaweed is trace nutrients and plant growth hormones. This will help with essetial oil production. Finally, water basil from around the base; it does not like water on its leaves. |
| 7. | Basil in flowerUse your herbs when they're ready. As soon as the herbs have grown enough leaves to be pinched without affecting their growth, you can begin using some of the herbs. This usually takes about 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the herbs. Herbs like basil are best when harvested before flowers open. You will get your highest essetial oil levels when you harvest at the end of the dark period, assuming you do not leave the lights on 24 hours a day. |
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