Indoor-Herb-Gardening
Window Sill Herb Gardening

Indoor-herb-gardening is so popular for simple beauty, fragrance and convenience. Enrich your home in many ways with your own kitchen basic-herb-garden.

This is a much nicer way to go instead of so many packaged herbs that are eventually thrown out because they are so old, or laying around half open and falling out all over the place.

Nothing beats fresh!

Herbs have existed for our use since the beginning of time.

From everything for herbal medicines for sickness to enhancing the tastes of our everyday cooking and everything in between, herbs are so useful.

Just the aroma alone is all people want wafting throughout their homes, or just being able to smell them in their backyards while sitting outdoors is enough too.

Did you know that for some people, herbs are thought to contain mystical powers?

Herbs have long been used in potions and charms for multiple purposes.

lavender, herbal lavender Imagine the aroma of fresh herbs thoughout your kitchen.

This is what a little indoor basic-herb-garden will bring into your home. As herbs are so aromatic, some days you may pick up on the smell of one more than another.

Picture indoor-herb-gardening pots lined up on on the inside of your kitchen window.

Windowsill herbs are a functional decoration for sure, and not to mention, pure convenience to any cook to have a number of varieties of herbs to choose from at any time of the day or night. And that's about as fresh as you can get too.

Indoor-herb-gardening is highly convenient for another reason.

You can access it obviously at any time instead of having to go outdoors in all types of weather to pick from the garden.

You can keep a good eye on it at all times in case your herb garden is drowing in rain-water or drying out from too much sun and wind. This will be a worry you won't have.

A container-herb-garden kept separately and grown indoors won't have to deal with bug issues either.

dill parsley

It's a good idea to keep your herbs separated anyway, as keeping them in their own pots prevents them from growing wildly over and through other vegetable plants. Some herbs can be very invasive plants to deal with and and gain control of. If indoor-herb-gardening instead, you won't need to be concerned.

If you would like to establish your own herb garden, for "whatever use", you can do it in your backyard, or indoors on a smaller scale for easy convenience. With indoor-herb-gardening, you probably will find you won't waste as much.

Container herb gardening is a great idea for more limited spaces such as apartments and balconies.

Consider all the factors before you start your indoor herb-garden.

You do need to decide where exactly you want this garden first of all. Have an existing vegetable or flower garden outside?

This might be the perfect spot off to the side if you want your garden located outdoors.

How many herbs would you like to plant, and what types? Will they come back every year as perennial herbs that reappear faithfully every year, or do you just want to plant them as annuals, that are "over with" at the end of the season?

Picture your existing space, and decide if you have the room to plant a number of herb types, because different plants have a variety of various needs if they are to mature properly.

It would make sense to put the perennials at the very back or on the edge of the garden. When the season has ended and cleanup is going on, the perennial herbs won't be bothered or pulled out by mistake.

As with any outdoor plantings, taller plants should be placed in the back, with the shorter plants placed in front.

Some herbs bush out and spread. Consider this factor when deciding if you actually have the room to accommodate these plants outside or indoor-herb-gardening in a window.

Are you interested in bordered squares?

This might be a good idea, where the sections are nice and square, and evenly divided, and easily identified. You can use planks of wood, large rocks, cement bricks, whatever you like or have available. Try to recycle something if you can.

Have an old wooden ladder hanging around? The squares are layed out equally for you, and the edges nice and straight.

If you can press this down into the ground, and you have the space, this would do quite nicely and would look very attractive.

Make your herbal plantings in between the rungs of the ladder, and be sure to mark them for easy identification.

Any type of a used framed item would be perfect and depending on what it is, highly decorative in your garden.

If you are limited on space, certain herbs such as chives, lavender, dill and mint are good ones to start with.

All of these herbs will give off some lovely fragrances.

Plants like thyme, dill and basil need lots of light, so they could be in containers. That way, you could move them as necessary to give them more exposure to sunlight. Chives like the sun too, and none of these plants care for any draftiness. Oregano is another good starter herb.

Make sure your plants can drain well. A little bit of sand in the bottom of the pot helps with this.

When it comes to the actual planting, all young plants need a certain degree of moisture, fertile dirt, warmth from the sun, room to branch out, and good drainage.

If you are looking for a fun craft you can do by yourself, do some indoor-herb-gardening with the family.

Herbal planting starter kits with all the ingredients needed including a variety of seeds are available in most large department stores, with easy to follow directions for herbal garden beginners.

Heard of the chia herb garden? Kids love these and it's a very good way to peak their interest in gardening as starting point.

Herb gardens can come in fun and yes, sometimes silly indoor- herb-gardening kits.

Consider the types of herbs you want to plant and what you want to use them for.

Most people are thinking in terms of "cooking" when they think about herb gardens but it doesn't mean the herbs you plant can't serve dual purposes, and many herbs are indeed capable of that. Remember the aromas?

Herbs are a wonderful indoor natural air freshener.

All you need are some small flower pots with a hole for drainage and a sunny window sill. You need something underneath either in one piece or individually to catch the water.

Want to make an outside window box that is within reach, and gives you a glorious view just out your window?

A plain window box with a drainage tray can be purchased at any number of hardware stores. Make sure you have some good soil; might be best to get this at a nursery. You may choose to decorate it with some free-hand painting or you could use stencils to make some eye-catching designs.

If the window box is unpainted, smooth out any rough spots first with a little overall rubbing with sandpaper.

Put on a coat of base paint, and after it drys, apply a second coat.

Decorate with whatever designs that appeal to you and let dry well overnight. You can clear-coat as a final step if you want to.

Attach the box to the window sill of your choice. Place some small stones covered with a mix of dirt and compost on the bottom. Start with young herb seedlings, or sprinkle with the seeds of your choice, again remembering that if your seeds are of different varieties, put the taller growing plant seeds at the back.

The ones that trail should be placed along the front edge so they can grow naturally downwards and add to the attractiveness of your window box.

Any plants that have thicker foliage, should be placed in the middle.

Be sure to fertilize as they require and water faithfully. Find out what the herbs themselves need, and group accordingly if they are all in one location.

Think of the change in the taste of your dishes when cooking with fresh herbs and all of the new recipes you can invent. When you change an herb, you have a whole new recipe.

When it comes to indoor-herb-gardening, as you can see there are a number of choices you have.

For a basic herb garden, you can start it in any number of ways.

Outdoors with other plants, in containers on a balcony, close to your home, on an outdoor window-sill for easy viewing, or inside by a sunny window are all viable options.

Indoor-herb-gardening in the window seems the most appealing to me.

Fragrance, visual appeal, easy quick access for maintenance are all good things, but best of all, instant fresh cooking ingredients at my fingertips all the time.

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