Growing Herbs in Your Apartment
It doesn’t matter whether you live in an urban high rise, brownstone or suburban-style apartment you can have a brilliant herb garden and have many of the benefits herb plants have to offer. When I got my first apartment, one of the first things I did was start herb gardening in pots, including basil, oregano and parsley.
I then added some herb plants inside my apartment. I lined up many little herb containers around the only window that faced south, such as lavender and lemongrass. The two herbs combined to make a delightful scent throughout the apartment.
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 entire 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 herb plants, 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 every day because of the heat and window reflection.
You can apply a couple of these same rules of thumb in your apartment herb garden.
First things first, look around your apartment to find locations where you can cultivate your herb plants. Do you have a suitable indoor or outdoor spot where you can get your green thumb on? All you need is plenty of room for a container or two. Did you know that a number of herbs will grow in little places? For example, you can cultivate chives for your next baked potato in a container about the size of an espresso cup—provided it has enough drainage.
Check out your lighting to see what can work. The correct amount of lighting is crucial to your plants’ growth. Not enough sun or the wrong kind and you will have some pretty pathetic plants. In an apartment I had in the city many years ago I had 2 windows in the whole place: one faced east, which meant that it got the full morning sun, but nothing else and the other, a tiny window in the bathroom faced south—which is the best way to face—and that one became my herb garden window. This was a success because the window got a lot of southern sun and steam from the bathroom helped the plants.
Once you determine where you can create your herb garden and the quality, type and amount of sun that your chosen area has, you are ready to decide which herb plants you want to grow. There are a lot of herbs to choose from. Do not get overwhelmed. What you get will depend on how you plan to use your herbs. Do you want herb plants for the scent, for medicinal purposes, for cooking or for use in cosmetics or maybe you just want something pretty to look at? No matter what your interest, you’ll have plenty of herb plants to select from. Start by flipping through a book on herb gardening and focus on herbs that have the sun needs that your space will respond to. Very soon, you will be ready to go!
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.
