Growing Herbs in Your Apartment

• Organic Gardening For Beginners
• Companion Planting Guide
• Seed Saving Tips & Techniques

It doesn’t matter whether you live in an urban high rise, brownstone or suburban-style apartment you can have a wonderful herb garden and enjoy some of the benefits herb plants have to offer. In my first apartment, I started slowly with a couple of herbs in containers mixed in with a few flowers on my front stoop—just your basic kitchen necessities like basil, oregano and parsley.

I also added some herb plants inside my apartment. I lined up several little herb containers around the only window that faced south, such as lavender and lemongrass. The two herbs combined to create a delightful scent throughout the apartment.

When I lived in an urban high rise I had a balcony that was completely fenced in by a big grate—which also put my entire balcony in shade almost all day long. 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 herbs, plus some chamomile and other flowering plants and some cascading vines. Although it was a creative solution to the problem, it needed gallons of water every day because of the heat and window reflection.

You can apply some of these same principals in your apartment herb garden.

Evaluate your space to determine where you could raise your herb plants—do you have a stoop, front porch, balcony, deck, window or anywhere else that you could put your herb plants? All you need is enough room for a container or two. Some herbs, like chives, only need a container about the size of a coffee cup to grow and do well.

The next thing to consider is the lighting. The right amount of lighting is crucial to your plants’ growth. Not enough sun or the wrong type and you will have some pretty pathetic plants. In an apartment I had in the city several years ago I had two windows in the whole location: 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 worked because the window got a lot of southern sun and moisture from the bathroom helped the plants.

Now that you know where you are going to begin your herb garden and you’ve determined what kind of light you will have, such as the quality, type and amount of light you will have, you’re ready to begin choosing your herb. There are a lot of herb plants to choose from. Do not get overwhelmed. What you get can depend on how you plan to use your herb plants. Are you looking to raise culinary herb plants, florals, first-aid or healing herbs? Maybe you’re looking for the right ingredients for your lotions or shampoos. For just about every need you have, there’s an plant out there with your name on it. Start by flipping through a book on herb gardening and focus on herb plants that have the natural light needs that your space can respond to. Before you know it, you’ll be all set!

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.

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