Growing Herb Indoors

There is nothing more rewarding as growing herb indoors. Growing your own herbs inside your home is more beneficial than growing herbs outdoors, because you are in complete control of everything. You can control how much light and water your herb plants get. You are also in control of the insect situation, and disease control.

For those of you that are limited in your knowledge of indoor herb growing how to. There are some great guidelines that you should follow.  Here are a few to get you started.

In order to have a good growing herb garden you must start from the very basics. Herbs grow best when they are started from young plants, although, seed will work; they just have to be replanted once they have grown a little. Be sure to get enough of every kind of herb that you want to plant. If you like garlic in your food you may want to pick up some extra plants; the same thing with any herb that you think that you will use a lot of. You will also want to pick up a soil moisture tester to place inside each pot.

Some of the easiest herbs to grow are basil, sweet basil, parsley, garlic, mint, thyme, chives, tarragon, summer savory, rosemary, dill, and coriander. You may want to try some cilantro also. These herbs do not need as much attention or pampering as some of the other herbs.

The most important thing is how to mix the soil. Although there are quite a few herbs which are easy to grow, however, they do not tolerate bad drainage. Remember that you want to purchase some good 10-10-10 fertilizer, some small gravel, sand, along with some good top soil. Next, mix 1 part of sand, 1 part of fertilizer with 2 parts of top soil. Next, before you put any soil in the pot you want to put about one inch of gravel in the bottom of the pot, then put enough of the prepared top soil about three quarters of the way up the pot. Take one of the small plants and put it in the center of the pot and gently put more soil around it. Tap the soil down gently around the plant and water the plant moderately for the first time.

Once all your herbs are potted, the next thing that you will want to do is to place the soil moisture tester in the pot and wait about 10 minutes to get an accurate reading. If the tester says that the soil is dry just water it a little more. It will let you know when to water your plants.

Next is the placement of your herb plants. Mint should be put in its own container as it likes to take over an area, and if you plant it next to another herb it will begin to take over those plants and could even choke them to death. If you have the kind of mint that crawls then a good idea would be to put it into a hanging basket, in a semi sunny area. Your garlic, chives, and bay should be kept in the kitchen window so that it will always be close by and fresh for your food spices; plus it will help keep your kitchen smelling like someone is cooking and that is the mood you want to set for a kitchen area.