In order to enjoy the taste of dishes seasoned with aromatic, fresh herbs from your own cultivation, you do not need to own a plot or even a home garden. For these plants, which often grow in nature under extreme conditions, even a small clay pot or balcony box, in which geraniums are usually planted, may be sufficient. See how to set up aherb gardenat home or on the balcony. It is worth it, because fresh leaves and sprouts of herbs, added even in a small amount, will significantly improve the taste of the prepared dishes, while the aroma of herbal specimens will certainly have a positive effect on our well-being.
Herb garden - growing herbs in pots
How to start a herb garden
The best way to start your adventure withpotted herb cultivationis to buy seedlings in a well-stocked garden store or plant several plants separated from the plants growing in your garden. Annual species such as garden marjoram can also be sown in early spring and placed outside only after the last spring frosts. Plantings inherb gardencan be changed and supplemented with missing plants practically all year round using seedlings offered by larger supermarket chains. Thanks to this, our herbal garden on the balcony or home window sill will be constantly teeming with life.
"Since most herbs need a lot of light to develop properly, it is worth locating ourpotted herb gardenon the windowsill of the south window or on the balcony with south-west exposure.In the case of the cultivation of many species of herbs from southern Europe, the more sun, the stronger the aroma prevails, so it is worth making sure that our green people can use the sun as often as possible.
Plants can be grown individually in small containers or group them into decorative clumps, serving not only utility but also decorative functions. Then ourherb gardenwill not only be a source of spices, but also aromas, fragrances and a great decoration for a window sill or balcony. "
How to care for a herb garden
The substrate for growing most herb species should be composed of universal garden soil with a large proportion of coarse sand, which will help quickly drain excess moisture after watering the plants.
Feeding herbs may become necessary if they are treated as a perennial crop. Fertilization should be based on ecological products due to the fact that plants will later be part of our diet.Organic fertilizers such as liquid vermicompost, compost or granular manure, which has lost its unpleasant odor during maturation, can help. Avoid using fertilizers containing large amounts of nitrogen, because this nutrient accelerates the growth of herbs at the cost of significantly weakening their aroma.
Watering spice plants grown in pots should be regular but not too abundant, as many species react very badly to flooding the roots. It is always a good idea to leave the water to water in an open container for at least 12 hours so that it can warm up sufficiently and that the chlorine used for its treatment evaporates.
Herb garden - growing herbs in pots
Which herbs to choose for your herb garden
Among the wide range of spice herb speciesfor the herb gardenyou can freely choose plants with an interesting shape, shape and color of the leaves, as well as an original aroma.
For container cultivation, we recommend spice plants such as mint, lemon-scented lemon balm, aromatic rosemary, lavender, common thyme, tarragon and basil. With large amounts of water, you can also grow larger nasturtiums on balconies and terraces, whose young shoots, leaves, flowers and unripe fruit can be successfully used in the kitchen.
Mediterranean species such as sage, thyme, rosemary, lavender and rue, which grow on barren, dry wastelands, slopes and hills, are best for pot-growing. They are very resistant to all inconveniences that they will meet in small containers, often placed on a sunny window sill, where extremely high temperatures prevail in summer. They perfectly tolerate neglect in cultivation, but they are usually very sensitive to spillage of the substrate, so it is very important to use proper drainage in containers intended forherb garden
Before the onset of stronger frosts, perennial herbs should be moved to a cool room, where the temperature does not drop too low in winter, or the containers in which they grow on the balcony, solidly wrapped in a thick layer of agrotextile, and then additionally covered with coniferous twigs. The cover prepared in this way should be loosened already in March, because some species of herbs begin vegetation in early spring.
