Growing Herbs in Your Apartment

No matter where you live, you can have your own herb garden and reap the many benefits of being an herb gardener.  In my first apartment, I started slowly with a few herbs in containers mixed in with a few flowers on my front stoop—just your basic kitchen necessities like basil, oregano and parsley.

In addition to those outdoors, I added some indoor herb plants. Congregated around the only southern facing window in the place were a number of other small herbs like lemongrass and lavender, which smelled fantastic together, and to those I added my outdoor herb plants when winter came..

In a later apartment in the city I had almost no sunlight because what little I could have had was blocked by an iron grate that covered the whole opening. So I constructed a flower bed made from chicken wire, leaves, newspaper, pine needles, peat and sod to hang outside the grate and I filled it with my kitchen herbs, plus some chamomile and other flowering herbs and some cascading vines. Although it was a creative solution to the problem, it needed lots of water each day because of the heat and window reflection.

You can apply a couple of these same rules of thumb in your apartment herb garden.

Evaluate your room to determine where you could grow your herb plants—do you have a stoop, front porch, balcony, deck, window or anywhere else that you could put your herb plants? Don’t believe that you need some big elaborate spot either. Some herb plants, like chives, only require a container about the size of a coffee cup to grow and do well.

The next factor to consider is your lighting. The right amount of lighting is essential to your plants’ growth. Not enough sunlight or the wrong type and you’ll have some pretty pathetic plants. I lived in a cramped tiny apartment in the city where I only had two windows. Because one of them faced east (not enough sun) I started my herb garden in the bathroom. This worked because the window got a lot of southern sun and moisture from the bathroom helped the plants.

Once you determine where you can create your herb garden and the quality, type and amount of natural light that your chosen area has, you are ready to decide which herb plants you want to grow. There are a lot of herb plants to select from. Don’t get overwhelmed. What you buy can depend on how you plan to use your herb plants. Are you looking to raise culinary herb plants, florals, first-aid or healing herb plants? Maybe you are looking for the right ingredients for your lotions or shampoos. No matter what your interest, you’ll have plenty of herb plants to choose from. Start checking them out, matching the needs you have with the space you have available and the amount, quality and type of natural light your space allows and you’ll soon be on your way!

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Windowsill Herb Garden. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.