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.

Hydrangeas come in several varieties. Hydrangea arborescence-one type of hydrangea-are sometimes called snow ball bush because of their white flowers and they bloom on new wood. Hydrangea arborescence varieties flower on “new” wood and should be pruned in Autumn. The stalks that these put out in the spring will bloom. The popular tree like hydrangeas are also white and are called paniculata hydrangeas and they benefit from fall pruning. Seems simple: white flowers, prune in fall.

It gets more complicated when you realize that there are other kinds of hydrangeas called hydrangea macrophyllas-these are the kind of hydrangeas that have lovely magenta to bright blue flowers Hydrangea macrophyllas bloom on “old” wood and can ONLY be pruned before Mid-July the year before. I did say this would be somewhat difficult, but not impossible?There is also oakleaf hydrangea which is also an “old” wood bloomer. So when would you prune it?? That’s right-summer before-so confusing.

There are a few things you need to do in order to promote your hydrangea macrophyllas to bloom in pink or blue. In order to get blue blooms you will have to improve the acidity of your soil pH. You can use pine needles, and throw down a bunch of pennies or rusty nails(yeah, my thought exactly)to help acheive this. Changing the pH of your soil from alkaline to acid is a lot of hard work and does not usually go so well. If pink hydrangeas are the goal then try to remove aluminum from you soil by decreasing the acidity pH. Incidentally if you can’t get them to bloom in exactly the right color you were hoping for you can always put a few glass gazing balls on ornamental metal stands in the hydrangea bushes in blue or pink to get the color that way. These will look good and provide the hint of color you were attempting to get minus all the hard work.

Unhealthy looking hydrangeas are probably getting too much sun or too much shade. Partial shade is recommended for hydrangea plants. Full sun is not recommended for hydrangeas as they will look unhealthy and not do well. They can survive in full shade but will be virtually with out flowers. They do best when they are plante in a spot that gets morning sun and PM shade. And as the name suggests they do not do well in drought(dry) conditions so remember to water them regularly and they should grow so abundantly you can use them as a hedge to hide an unsightly air conditioning unit, or plant them around the base of a recycled glass bird feeder to hide all the spent seeds.

These tips are meant to help you achieve all your hydrangea bloom dreams. It is imprtant to have some information about what hydrangea plant you have before you prune or plant it. The bountiful bloom on these plants will be your reward if you can just follow these simple rules.