How to Grow Your Own Herbs

Nurturing a plant, watching it grow and thrive, brings joy like no other. Double the happiness if you can use those plants in your daily life.

When you grow your own herbs at home, you can do it without any chemical fertilisers, making them totally safe for consumption.

The flavours of freshly picked herbs from your home-garden give a great taste to pretty much anything you whip up.

Are you just itching to start a herb garden at home? Then, keep on reading.

How to Grow Your Own Herbs at Home

Have you been wondering how to grow your own herbs in pots? Well, you can stop wondering now.

With the tips mentioned below, you can grow your own herbs indoors. Or if you have the space, you can grow herbs in your outdoor-garden.

Pots

For proper growth of the herbs, it is best to pick containers that are about 8-10 inches in height.

You can choose the width and length of the herb-growing pot according to the number of herbs you want to grow.

You can recycle and use empty juice boxes, milk cartons and water bottles to grow your herbs.

You can use wide earthen pots to grow your own herbs as well.

You would need to make sure that the container has proper drainage holes.

Potting Soil

The kind of soil you use in your herb pot is an important factor when you try to grow herbs at home.

The potting soil needs to contain 50% regular soil and 50% organic compost such as vegetable peels, tea leaves and coffee grounds.

Using organic compounds not only protects your herbs (and you) from chemicals but also is a great way for recycling kitchen waste.    

Water

Watering the plants appropriately and adequately is very important for them to grow well.

Water the plants in a way that the soil is able to maintain moisture. At the same time, the soil should not be soggy at all.

Soggy soil can kill your herbs, especially during the colder months.

If you see the leaves of the plants turning yellow, it means that you’re either underwatering or overwatering the plants.

Watering the herbs twice a week should be sufficient for them to thrive.

Sunlight

Herbs, like most plants, love the sun. So, you would need to ensure that the herbs you plant get plenty of sunshine.

If possible, you can rotate the pots regularly so that all the parts of the plant get the required amount of sunlight.

Even if you decide to create your herb garden indoors, make sure that you put it in a place that gets plenty of sunlight.

One way of telling if your herb plants are getting enough sunlight or not is by watching the number of leaves a plant has.

If the stem is growing fine but the number of leaves on the stem seems too less, then the plant is not getting as much sunlight as it needs.

Maintenance

As vital as water and sunlight is to the herbs for it to flourish, so is its maintenance.

Frequent clippings are required in order for the herb plants to branch out and grow further.

If you see your herbs starting to flower, that means that you need to trim them more often.

Herbs are usually ready for harvesting as soon as the leaves start getting a bit bigger.

You can use a knife or scissors to cut the leaves at the base. Do not cut the branches as they could produce more leaves in the future.

However, there are some herbs that can’t grow new leaves once harvested.

If you are growing such a herb, then you would need to plant new herbs once the old ones have been harvested.

Tulsi, ashwagandha and cardamom are some ayurvedic herbs to grow at home.

For simple consumption, coriander, chamomile, lavender and thyme are some herbs that can be grown at home.

Whether you have a huge garden outside or a cute little balcony-garden, with the ideas mentioned above, growing your own herbs becomes quite easy.