Gardening is a great way to be creative, get some exercise, and breathe in the fresh air. There’s nothing quite like watching your plants successfully flourish, and then harvesting your well tended ‘babies’ for their culinary and medicinal use.
The great news is that you don’t need to have garden space to get in on the gardening action. All you need is some pots and a sunny spot on a balcony or large windowsill – and some simple green-thumb knowhow.
The rule of 3
There are three basic factors that will determine how successfully you are able to grow herbs in pots:
Mix it up
It is important that the potting mix is light enough to allow good drainage, yet it also needs to retain moisture. There are a variety of potting mixes available to suit different types of plants.
Go organic
A good quality organic potting mix will provide plenty of nutrients to get you started and is the right consistency for the adequate drainage of most herbs.
How-to: Fill pots with potting mix so that there is a gap of 2 cm from the top in small pots and about 3-4 cms for larger pots to allow easy watering.
Draining
Make sure there are plenty of drainage holes in the bottom of your pots. If you are concerned about the potting mix clogging small holes, then it is a good idea to put some course gravel or something similar in the bottom.
When to water?
It’s important to not let your herbs dry out. It is time to water when the top few centimetres of soil have dried out. You can test this with your finger. Obviously, your herbs will need more frequent watering in warmer weather and if the conditions are windy. In very dry conditions, it can be a good idea to mist them with water in the mornings and evenings.
Potting time
Plastic pots on saucers are a good choice due to their lightness and their ability to retain moisture. They are best in hotter environments as they can easily become waterlogged in winter. Unpainted terracotta pots look great and have the advantage of being semi-porous which helps with drainage in cooler climates, but they are heavier to move around and require more watering in summer.
Get creative! You could make pots out of various items (such as hollowed out logs or old teapots), as long as they have adequate drainage holes.
Feeding your herbs
Herbs need regular feeding, and most potting mixes only come with enough nutrients to last a few months at most. It is a good idea to feed them with a liquid fertiliser, such as a seaweed one, about once per month.
Remember to re-pot
It’s also a good idea to remove the top part of the soil from your pots once a year in spring and replace it with some fresh potting mix and compost if you have some. This will encourage good spring growth. If your herbs keep growing in the long term, it is a good idea to re-pot them every two to three years.
Herbs for digestive health
Here are some herbs for digestive health that grow well in pots, and can be used as medicinal teas or to cook with.
Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria)
Agrimony likes sun or semi shade and will grow to about 60 cms. It likes dry, well-drained soil, and grows in a compact and upright fashion.
Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria)
Meadowsweet likes rich, moist soil and semi shade. It’s a perennial that grows in a spreading, bushy clump.
Peppermint (Mentha x piperita)
Peppermint likes rich moist soil and semi shade conditions. It grows in a vigorously spreading clump and is quite easy to grow.
Curly parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
Parsley likes sun or semi shade and grows in a compact clump so is well suited to pots. It likes rich, moist soil that is well drained. Remove the flowers if they form to promote leaf growth.