Container Herb Gardening - How to Plant an Indoor Herb Garden

While gardening in the great outdoors is a wonderful way to feel one with nature, it is still an exciting and rewarding experience to choose the path of container gardening. For those enthusiasts who live in apartment buildings or town houses, having a backyard garden may be nearly impossible, so the container gardening method allows everyone the opportunity to enjoy the tantalizing and beautiful treats nature has to offer.

This method of gardening has many benefits just as traditional landscape gardening has its own benefits. With a container garden, monitoring the soil is easy as you are the only one adding things to it. There are no outside influences to interfere. Container gardening also allows you to bring the plants inside as the cool chill of the winter season begins to take over. In addition, having to provide specific lighting outdoors can be quite a challenge, but having a container garden indoors allows you to find the perfect spot, whether it be by a window, in a shady corner or under the warm, luminous glow of a lamp.

However, while container gardening can be easy, it also requires a little extra care. With am excellent patch of soil, nature automatically provides the proper moisture and nutrients the plants need in order to thrive. Taking over nature’s position in a container garden takes dedication and proper care. The first step in ensuring the right care for your container garden is knowing exactly which plants are the best choices.

Luckily, those who wish to partake in the wonders of container herb gardening, have several different varieties of plants to choose from that thrive in a contained area. Basil will grow fabulously in an old teapot, while Rosemary is an excellent candidate for placement in an old coffee can. Other herbs such as Dill, Sage, Mint and Lavender are all great candidates for container gardening. Even Thyme produces optimum growth when planted in a clay pot only a few inches in height.

The most important step in starting a container garden is ensuring that the seeds you purchase are of good quality. Seeds are considered a “Food Product” and as such, these tiny givers of life have the ability to spoil or become affected by the elements. Elements such as air carry airborne spores that can invade the seeds. Water is another element that can ruin seeds, so any packets that have gotten wet need to be discarded. It is also important to note, that seed packets do display an expiration date, so keeping a watchful eye will help in making sure your seed selection is fresh.

Selecting the perfect spot in your home for your container garden is another essential tool in ensuring a bountiful planting. Some plants prefer full sunlight, while others prefer partially shaded areas. Basil is a plant that thrives best in warm, dry soil; however, if the plant is placed by a window for optimum sun exposure, you must also make sure that the area is not prone to becoming cold in the winter months as Basil is particularly sensitive to cooler temperatures.

Sun loving plants should be placed in the southern end of the home as most areas of the Northern Hemisphere experience sunlight from a slight southern angle. Plants that prefer shaded or partially shaded areas should be placed on the northern side of the home.

Another important task in creating a fruitful container garden is adding and maintaining the proper soil content. The Lavender plant for instance, loves full sun, but prefers moist soil. Adding some chips of clay can help hold the moisture in the soil as clay retains moisture for long periods of time. However, clay may do too good of a job retaining moisture so a good mixture of sandy and clay mixed soil will ensure a proper balance.

Administering the proper amount of water is another task that is highly important to the virility of the plants. One of the most common reasons container gardens fail, is root rot which is caused from excessive over watering. It is important to know what your particular plant requires. Peppermint for instance prefers a most soil while Sage flourishes in a dryer soil mixture.

Providing the proper moisture content for your plants may be a little tricky. Moist soil should act a little springy when pressed with your thumb, while dryer soil will be a little harder. Another way to ensure the proper moisture level of the soil is to either insert a toothpick below the soils surface or purchase a moisture gauge. The toothpick will display whether the soil below the surface is dry or moist however, the moisture gauge will provide you with a more accurate reading.

Planning and maintaining a container garden will give your home a beautiful splash of color and an aromatic scent that is sure to please.

         

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