CONTAINER HERBS

Thursday, March 31, 2011

A collection of well – grown herbs in pots is a satisfying vision because experience teaches that the daily attention they require in summer indicates an orderly gardener with civilized priorities. To nurture herbs in posts is a labor of love with the extra bonus of convenient fresh herbs chives for cream cheese before it melts on a baked potato; mint as a sudden inspiration for a blackcurrant tart, or chamomile for a relaxing nightcap. As most herbs are easy to grow in pots, town dwellers with only balcony, roof garden or window box can enjoy the delights of an herb garden either outdoors or indoors. Supplying suitable conditions for roots is a main consideration for container herb growers.

Make sure your container has drainage holes and over these place gravel or broken crocks of terracotta. Terracotta is traditionally used because the shards have a little curve so they cover a drainage hole and still keep a little oxygen space, and because terracotta absorbs moisture storing a little extra for the soil mixture. Put a thin layer of grit of fine gravel and a sprinkling of horticultural charcoal granules (if available) over the terracotta. They help keep the soil sweet for herbs which have reached their largest size pot. Then use a good moisture retentive soil mixture. There are good peat – based mixtures available from garden centers usually with a wetting agent in them. This makes it easier to water the pots when they dry out, but my preference is still for a soil-based mixture. Peat becomes very light when it dries out and pots can be blown over in strong winds. Also, while sterilized soil has all the weed seeds and disease spores steamed out theoretically making it better, to me it feels dusty and lifeless. There is something about a home made with good rich compost, and lots of oxygen incorporated as you mix it like a giant Christmas cake in the wheelbarrow, that is worth putting up with the extra weeding. The herbs themselves discourage many of the disease so I take my chances with live soil.