After a long day at work, it’s everyone’s dream to come home to an aromatic dinner. Sadly, this dream can be cut short if you lack the flavors and spices for your meal.
However, there’s a way to prevent this unfortunate event – plant your flavors! And who says you need complex landscapes and tracts of land to realize this? You can plant the herbs in your home, on your porch, balcony, patio, or rooftop.
You only need pots, plenty of sunlight, and the desire to save cash meant for groceries.
What Are Herbs And Why Are They Important?
Unsurprisingly, most individuals use herbs and spices interchangeably. However, it is crucial to note that spices are the roots, barks, and seeds you use in your food.
Herbs, on the other hand, are the leafy parts of bushy and short plants. They play a crucial role in the existence of humankind. Through them, humans experience healing and taste in life.
Their heavenly aroma and taste make them fit for various uses. For instance, you can use herbs as food, fragrance, medicine, personal care, and cleaning.
Most importantly, you can use herbs for culinary purposes-flavoring and seasoning foods.
5 Tips For Growing Herbs In Containers
Even if you have plenty of lands to plant vast rows of herbs, it can’t measure up to the convenience of having them in your home. Like, you could reduce trips to the farm or the stores.
Apart from that, you can cut on buying expenses and even use them for decor!
And since you can comfortably make containers a farm, you need to understand how to go about it. Good for you, you only have to keep reading to find out.
1. Container Selection
Consider the plant’s height and width, the pot’s drainage potential, and the season before choosing a container.
Most herbs have shallow roots, meaning that you can use shallow pots. However, others require those that are large enough to support their deep roots.
To be safe, you can choose a container that is almost as tall as the ready-to-harvest herb and half its width. And since larger containers make good insulators against coldness, you can use them during winter.
Make this type of planting funnier by playing with various kinds of containers. You can use window boxes, hanging baskets, pots, buckets, or DIY containers.
Whatever you settle on, it is crucial that their drainage holes can drain water from the roots.
2. Site Selection
The best thing aboutgrowing herbs in containersis that you can change location whenever it fits. You can place them, arrange them by the door, along the path walks or the steps, and embrace their fragrance.
You can also have them by the windows or counter for convenience when cooking.
However, it is critical that they access direct sunlight for several hours a day. They should also access enough water. This is because container soil drains water much faster than ground soil.
3. Avoid Regular Soil
Avoid using garden soil because it is denser, substantial, and has poor drainage. The container soil should be organic and well-aerated. It should also retain moisture and have good drainage.
You can buy the soil or prepare a light, airy soil mixture.
4. Watering And Fertilizing
Unlike ground planting, potting tends to dry out faster. For this reason,growing herbs in containers require frequent watering.
Also, remember to treat the plants to a time-based fertilizer. You can choose to go organic by mixing dirt or manure with the bucket soil when planting.
However, avoid overwatering or over-fertilizing if you want the herbs to keep their aromas.
5. Harvesting
The harvesting stage determines how long you’ll enjoy keeping the plants. For instance, if you pinch or prune the leaves, you’ll keep the new growth coming. You can also use your fingers or scissors to snip those with stems.
And, never forget to deadhead flowers from the plants if you want to increase the harvesting period. Combat the shoots before they flower.
Summary
Planting some herbs and watching them grow is one of the most satisfying things you can experience. With the above information, you can now go ahead and add life to your home by growing container herbs.
