How To Grow Herbs

Anyone can grow herbs! It doesn't matter whether you have a large country garden, a small urban terrace, a balcony, a window box or just a window sill, herb growing can suit any size plot. Here's how.

By Sacha Markin

Herbs are so easy to grow and can be used in an assortment of ways - for flavouring and garnishing food; for their wonderful and relaxing scents; for their array of medicinal properties and or simply for purely decorative reasons. Herbs are pretty tough plants and can thrive in most conditions. They don't always need full sunlight and some grow perfectly in the shady spots. So with a huge variety of herbs to choose from, where do you start?

When To Grow Herbs

It is best to start sowing herb seeds once all the winter frosts have gone and the weather starts to warm up. If you want to keep all your herbs inside, just sow the seeds directly into a pot with some good quality compost and soil. If you're planning to grow your herbs outside, start the herbs off in pots or trays on a warm windowsill before hardening them off and taking them outside. Hardening off is essentially introducing seedlings to the outdoor elements, which can be done by transferring the plants from a windowsill to a reasonably protected area outside, before moving them into your chosen spot.

Where To Grow Herbs

Herbs are really rather versatile plants and don't need to be outside or have an enormous amount of space. As long as they have water, sunlight and good fertile soil or compost, most herbs will grow quite happily indoors or out - not only in the garden, but in pots, containers, window boxes or even hanging baskets.

Ideally, if you're growing them indoors, place the herbs grown in a south or west facing window to get the best kind of sunlight, but make sure the reflected heat from the window isn't overly strong. If you're planting in pots and containers, start with around 2cm of gravel at the bottom of each pot to make sure that the plant has decent drainage. Go for compact herbs that won't grow too wide or tall, such as chives, thyme, basil, lavender, parsley and mint.

If you're planting into the ground, the best place for a successful herb garden is a sunny, open but protected spot with good drainage. Herbs are hardy plants and not overly fussy about their soil, but if you have a particularly sandy soil, add plenty of organic matter such as home-made compost. This will help bind the large soil particles and hang on to moisture.

When planning any herb garden, whether in containers or on a plot, you should take into account the eventual size of the plants. Always check the labels on the pots or seed packets when you buy - this will help establish just how big your chosen herbs may get and you can then work out how much space to allow between each plant.