Making A Potted Herb Garden That Will Flourish Indoors And Out

Making a potted herb garden has many advantages over regular outdoor gardening. For example, you can bring the potted herbs indoors during the colder months where you have better control over conditions such as soil contamination and light. It's easy to ensure that nothing gets into the pot to contaminate the soil if it is indoors, likewise, you can move the pot into or out of the sun to control the amount of light.

It can be tricky to grow herbs in pots. When starting out with a good soil, moisture and nutrients can be controlled successfully when left up to Mother Nature. It takes care to adjust these things artificially. Selecting the right plants is a start. Fortunately there are numerous herbs that are able to thrive in pots. Lavender, basil, sage, mint and dill are among them.

Choose your seeds carefully as they can actually go bad. So, the first step is to start with seeds that are of good quality. There are many organic compounds that react to oxygen, and air contains many spores that are both able to invade and are airborne. It's easy to get them fresh and to keep them that way, as long as the dates are observed and any wet seed packets are thrown away.

When making a potted herb garden, don't get stuck on the notion that you have to keep it indoors. They can thrive outdoors too! Like most plants, herbs need certain amount of sunlight. Essentially, it varies with the species: some requires a full sun, others prefer a partial shade.

The soil should be prepared and kept at the correct moisture levels. Lavender soaks up the sun, and it also loves dry soil that is alkaline. The pot will retain more moisture if clay chips are used, but often it will retain too much moisture. Clay will absorb water for a long time, and hang on to it longer if kept in a container. There should be a combination of both sandy and clay soil.

Root rot stems from an excess in moisture. This is the most common problem that plants grown in containers will experience. Although some plants prefer to be wet all the time, herbs like a dryer soil. Remember that moist doesn't mean soaked. When you press your thumb on the surface of the soil it should be springy if it's moist. If it is dry, on the other hand, it will be hard. You can insert a toothpick or moisture gauge into the soil also. When you remove the toothpick you will be able to tell whether the soil underneath the surface is dry or moist. The gauges are able to give more useful and precise reading.

There are many great reasons for making a potted herb garden. On thing you can use your herb garden in pots for is keeping culinary herbs on hand all year long. Keep the pots outside near the kitchen door in summer and bring them in and sit them on the windowsill in winter.