How to Plant an Indoor Herb Garden That Thrives
OKrasyuk/Getty Images
TABLE OF CONTENTS
On This Page
How to Start a Kitchen Window Herb Garden
How to Care for an Indoor Herb Garden
Kitchen Herb Garden Tips
Fresh herbs from the garden can really elevate whatever you're cooking—and it's especially nice when you can just snip it from a plant right in your kitchen. But if your vision of a thriving kitchen window herb garden ends up being an underwhelming collection of plants that don't quite do as well as their outdoor counterparts—or if you're like me, end up dead within weeks—you likely just need a little help.
Fortunately, there are tips and strategies you can use to make sure you have plenty of fresh herbs on hand to brighten up your favorite dishes all year long.
How to Start a Kitchen Window Herb Garden
Growing a kitchen window herb garden can add a lovely aesthetic to your kitchen—in addition to providing the perfect garnish for your meals.
Choose your plants or seeds
Think about how you cook before you invest in your plants—start with the herbs you use most often in your cooking. (Basil, rosemary, parsley, and sage might be some good starting points.)
Choose the right planters
Bigger is better when it comes to herbs, both to leave enough room to let your plant grow, and help reduce the number of times you have to water the plant. "Hanging planters are good, but they tend to dry out faster than pots that are sitting on a surface," says Ian Brown, lead plant specialist at PlantHero.
Look for non-permeable materials, like a plastic or a glazed ceramic, in lieu of terra-cotta.
Use organic potting soil
Organic potting soils have microbes in it that the herbs need to thrive. "For the best odor and flavor, herbs need a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria in the soil," Brown says. "They need organic fertilizers to support the biome in the soil, and organic soil as well."
Keep it simple
There are lots of kits and smart planters out there to help simplify the process of planting. But Brown says that it's often best to stick with good pots, good soil, and good care. "
That said, vertical planters may be a solid choice for a kitchen window herb garden, where space is at a premium. "There's some stuff to be said for vertical indoor gardens and how space efficient they are," Brown says.
How to Care for an Indoor Herb Garden
There's more to keeping your herb garden thriving than just watering it. Keeping your kitchen window garden growing requires sunshine, fertilizer—and a little bit of love.
Place your plants in a southern window, if possible
Southern exposures are best for the plants, providing optimal sun to keep your plants thriving. The only issue? The pots (and the plants) can get dried out faster than plants placed in other exposures—so you may need to pull out the watering can more often.
Feed your herbs
Your herbs need more than water and sunshine to thrive—they need fertilizer too. For aromatics like herbs, Brown recommends a fertilizer with a ratio of 5/3/3 (5 nitrogen, 3 phosphate, 3 potash). And stick with an organic fertilizer. "They need organic fertilizers in the soil to develop that smell and flavor that aromatic herbs make," Brown says. You should fertilize your plants every other week for the best effects.
Consider self-watering options
If you're notorious for drying out your plantings, a self-watering pot or another self-watering tool may be your best friend. Brown recommends keeping it to water only if you're using a self-watering pot—the fertilizer can clog up the self-watering system and make it slimy. (You can feed the plant by watering and fertilizing over the top of it.)
Prune away the blooms
Flowering herbs may look beautiful, but once they bloom, they often shift their energy toward the blooms and away from the leaves you're actually hoping to grow. It's especially important to prune annual herbs like basil and dill. "Prune the flowers off as quickly as you can—after the flowers bloom, the plants go to seed and die," Brown says.
Don't fret if your annuals wilt and die
You aren't a black thumb—annuals are annuals and will die off over the winter, even if they're kept warm and cozy indoors. The only way to keep basil, dill, and other annuals thriving all year round is providing supplemental artificial light to make up for the shorter daylight hours in fall and winter, Brown says.
Plant your annuals and perennials in separate planters
"Keep perennials with perennials and annuals with annuals, so you don't have to disturb the roots of perennials when you're replacing annuals," Brown says. He recommends planting rosemary and sage together, and basil with parsley or dill.
Kitchen Herb Garden Tips
There can be a few hiccups on the road to herb garden success, but you can try these tweaks to help you overcome them.
Prevent plant pests
It may seem like plant pests would be more common outdoors, but Brown says aphids and other pests can be a big headache indoors. "If your plants are over-fertilized with chemical fertilizers that force feed the plant for excessive growth, or raised in non-ideal conditions, you can develop pest issues," Brown says. After you treat the aphid infestation, use a more balanced or organic fertilizer, and give your plant plenty of sunshine—UV radiation is an insecticide.
Skip the all-in-one kits
Those cute herb-growing kits may make a nice way to start your seeds, but you'll need to make some serious changes to the soil after the plants start to sprout. "The soil on those tends to be too peat-heavy, which is great for starting seeds because they can't harbor fungus, but it's a sterile media that doesn't have nutrition in it," Brown says. "You'll need to move on from peat really quickly."
Amend the soil with carbon
If you want your plants to really thrive, consider adding some biochar to the soil. "It's extra-credit-level stuff, but pyrolyzed carbon—which is sawdust heated up and almost burned—becomes a microbial hotel to help you achieve a really successful harvest," Brown says.
Be judicious with artificial light
Grow lights can help you grow bigger plants, but they may not give you the same quality herbs as a plant grown in natural light. "If you're relying on artificial light, it's harder to produce the secondary metabolites that produce a fruit or scent," Brown says. "If you're trying to produce something with a smell, with flavor, you need natural light to do that."
