The are many benefits to owning a miniature or small herb garden. Aside from smelling gorgeous, they are a fantastic feature bringing the outdoors indoors or keeping a little outdoor area green and fresh feeling. They grow and change shape reasonably quickly, and you can choose windowsill pots that are tiny or larger ones for the potted herb garden – you can fit your garden into virtually any space.
A potted herb garden on the verandah – close to the kitchen and easy to access. Such a garden can be scaled up or down depending on the size of the space available. Always consider the weight of your pots (and soil/plants/watering) to make sure the surface they are on can carry the load. Light-weight options have been chosen for this garden to reduce weight.
Provided you have used good soil, and the plants are fertilised (for example using worm juice or seaweed), you can rest assured that with watering and sunlight your plants should be very happy. In previous posts, we cover why herbs are great and how to make sure you have the right herb garden set-up for your lifestyle. Here you’ll find more detail on what you could grow in a mini herb garden – you can mix and match your herbs or start with one plant that you know you’d either use in cooking or enjoy viewing!
More About A Windowsill Herb Garden
Benefits:
- Easy access to fresh herbs while cooking
- A great indoor feature of your kitchen
- miniature garden so less time required to maintain
Care:
- Check out essential tips on starting a herb garden and keeping it healthy
- Ensure adequate light (approx 6 hours per day recommended)
- Water regularly
- Good quality soil
- Always leave about ⅔ of the plant intact when you harvest leaves – this means it won’t need too much time to recover and grow new leaves
Examples Of What To Grow:
- To complement Mediterranean food, plant oregano, basil, parsley. Keep the oregano in a separate pot as it prefers less water than the others
- Chives, parsley, mint (a lovely variety of foliage and perfect to sprinkle on the odd meal)
- Marjoram, thyme, oregano (all or any of these are delicious with seafood or chicken dishes)
- Lemongrass (plant on its own to bring a healthy burst of green to the scene)
- Lavender, thyme, sage (looks and smells great)
- Rosemary, sage (full-bodied flavours fabulous in chicken recipes)
More About Potted Herb Gardens
Benefits:
- Easily fits in a small area such as a patio or verandah, or a little corner of the garden. Can also be used to line an entrance to a home or along a path for a significant visual effect.
- You can move the pots around the home or outdoors in the early stages to find the right spot (though if you have opted for larger ones, it is recommended to decide on the best possible place at the outset because they can be cumbersome to move with soil water and plants in them).
- A wider variety of plants to be grown due to the space the pots provide, and a greater quantity of harvest for the avid chefs, or just glorious to look at if you love growing living things
Bounty from a single pot can be very rewarding. This pot is growing marjoram, thyme and a chilli plant.
Choosing Pots:
- You can select pots that fit with your design or style at home. Coloured, matte, bright, patterned, wooden. You name it. Try purchasing some of the same pattern or colour but in different shapes and heights to create a lovely feature in your home.
- A talented designer family friend once told me that odd numbers of pots (1,3,5) look better than even numbers, and larger ones as a single feature structure can be better than a lot of smaller ones. Having taken this advice on board, I now have several more prominent features around the garden and some beautiful herb garden pots upstairs that are still very pleasing to the eye!
- Larger pots for larger plants is always the best way to go. Either plant in each or have some with a single plant (e.g. bay leaf) and others with a mixture of the smaller, bushier herbs.
- I’ve found some of the best containers to get (which I have also put along the back of the vegetable garden where it’s more difficult to reach) are the self-watering type. These types of containers are funky and can also allow you to water your herbs less often.
- Alternatively, the lightweight pot options are excellent regarding keeping weight as minimal as possible. It’s a massive thing when you add soil and plants and water to the mix! Most garden centres and the bigger stores like Bunnings, Ikea, and so on will sell a range of containers, and one will certainly suit you.
- For plants that prefer drier soil, choose clay or terracotta pots as these tend to allow the roots to have more of a dry spell between watering. Good drainage is essential
- You will have to consider repotting every year or so to provide rich fresh soil for your herbs if you do want a long-term flourishing feature (i find this quite therapeutic -reliving the excitement of getting the garden underway and seeing how much things have grown). It’s recommended to opt for the best potting mix you can find. It may cost a little more but it is likely it will keep the plants happy longer
Examples Of What To Grow In Your Potted Herb Garden
Planting in pots means you can move your herbs around to suit your needs. Here we have a rosemary plant in the front left pot which can be taken up to the windowsill for long stints in the kitchen.
Any of the windowsill combinations above would work fantastically in larger pots. The larger your pots, the greater the harvest and variety possible. However, you don’t need anything enormous to achieve this. Herbs thrive when they are healthy, will grow exponentially and look amazing.
Here are some examples of what you might like to grow:
- Rosemary, lemon thyme, tarragon, sage (marvellous variety of strong flavours). These enjoy drier soil and are very sturdy. They are also all perennials so will not need to be replanted every year, but instead die back and regenerate – they love a long-term home in pots for this reason).
- An assortment of basil (especially if you want to make pesto or love a fragrant plant. They are annual and will need to be replanted over the seasons, but you can enjoy many months of harvest in the meantime).
- Dwarf bay leaf tree (nothing beats a fresh bay leaf thrown into any meat or vegetable dish – remove before eating).
- Kaffir lime tree, lemongrass, chilli, coriander (in separate pots these will provide you with everything you need for an Asian influenced feast – absolutely delicious!).