Growing Herbs

Nothing quite compares with the all around benefits of maintaining your own herb garden. Fresh herbs are regularly available for cooking, medicine, magic, and drying and by nurturing the plant and digging in the dirt we become more attuned to the energies surrounding us. Gardening is grounding, relaxing and therapeutic. It allows for quiet communion with nature and brings us directly into the life cycle. All of these results can be achieved in small spaces as well as large.

Window boxes, troughs, or a grouping of pots filled with aromatic herbs placed just outside open kitchen windows till fill the room with lush, heady scents throughout the summer. Many herbs even do well inside on a south-facing windowsill, especially in the kitchen where the air is warm and humid. This also keeps herbs readily accessible for cooking.

Most herbs require 6 – 8 inches of free draining loam or compost and 5 – 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Moisture retaining soils with high clay content will be too dense and wet for the roots. In such a case, choose an organic potting soil and cut it with sand or perilite to provide drainage.

The best containers have a hole in the bottom of the pot and a saucer below which allows for bottom watering. Window boxes and plastic containers are available with a water reservoir underneath. Pouring the water into the reservoir and permitting the soil to absorb it from below necessitates deep root growth. Watering from above floods the plant and encourages surface roots to spread, limiting available nutrients and exposing them more readily to heat damage. Unglazed clay containers, like terra cotta pots, absorb water causing the soil to dry out quickly. Plastic containers, on the other hand, hold moisture and may need to be watered less frequently.

To start plants from seed, sandwich the seeds between the folds of a damp paper towel. Place the paper towels in an airtight container, Tupperware is fine, and leave seeds to germinate for up to 10 days. This process re-hydrates the seed and helps to ensure that the seeds you plant will produce. Most seed packets contain germination information; typical rates are 70 – 80%. This means that for every 10 seeds planted, 7 – 8 will grow. By testing seeds before planting, guess work is eliminated.

Check the paper towels daily for sprouting seeds and keep the towel damp. As soon as seeds sprout, plant them in the prepared soil just below the surface and water from the bottom. Cover the top of the container with a plastic bag to form a heat and moisture trapping mini-greenhouse. Place it on a sunny sill. Remove the plastic when you water to permit air to circulate over the leaves. Remove the plastic covering for the final time when the second set of true leaves appear. Rotate pots regularly to maintain shapely growth.

You may skip the germination test and sow seeds directly into the soil. Water from the bottom, cover with plastic and proceed as above. Some seeds will not sprout, so you may be left with a bald spot in your trough. Re-sow in this space or allow neighboring plants extra room to bush out.

Plants should grow to at least 4 – 5 inches before their first clipping. Prune bushy plants, such as lemon balm, to promote its natural tendencies. Clip back the tops of stems on all herbs after their first flowering to develop denser growth. Periodically mist plants with an atomizer filled with water to remove dust and sediment from leaves and facilitate photosynthesis. Specific cultivation instructions can be found in Herbal A to Z.

Starter Window Garden

Agrimony
(Agrimonia eupatoria)

Basil
(Ocimum basilicum)

Catmint
(Nepeta cataria)

Garden Lavender
(Lavandula angustifolia)

Lemon Balm
(Melissa officinalis)

Parsely
(Petroselinum crispum)

Tarragon
(Artemisia dracunculus)


Any indoor plant you wish to move outside must be acclimated to the new light and temperature conditions. Move the plant, in its pot, outside for 1 hour in the morning before the sun reaches its height. Over a period of days, gradually extend the time outdoors until you reach a full day. Keep a watchful eye on the plant during this process. If leaves begin to droop in the heat, bring it inside, allow the soil to cool off, then water lightly.

First gardens often don’t proceed according to plan. Second attempts usually fair better and third ones often expand to new pots and sills. Enjoy your quiet time in your new garden and reap the benefits of home grown herbs in your cooking, magic and medicine.

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