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Growing Herbs in Your Apartment

By Flower | February 6, 2010

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 reap many of the benefits herbs have to offer. In my first apartment, I started slowly with a few herbs in containers mixed in with a couple of flowers on my front stoop—just your basic kitchen necessities like basil, oregano and parsley.

I then added some herbs inside my apartment. Huddled around the only southern facing window in the location were a number of other little herbs like lemongrass and lavender, which smelled great together, and to those I added my outdoor herbs when winter came..

When I lived in an urban high rise I had a balcony that was totally fenced in by a largegrate—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 herb plants, plus some chamomile and other flowering herbs and some cascading vines. It looked great, but needed to be watered too frequently.

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

First things first, look around your apartment to find locations where you can grow your herb plants. Do you have a good indoor or outdoor space where you can get your green thumb on? All you need is plenty of room for a pot or two. Did you know that a number of herb plants can grow in small places? For example, you can grow chives for your next baked potato in a cup about the size of an espresso cup—provided it has enough drainage.

The next thing to consider is the lighting. The type, quality and amount of light your herb plants get is hugely important. Not enough sunshine or the wrong type and you will have some pretty pathetic plants. In an apartment I had in the city a few years ago I had 2 windows in the whole spot: 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.

Once you determine where you can create your herb garden and the quality, type and amount of sunlight that your chosen area has, you’re ready to decide which herb plants you want to grow. There are a lot of herb plants to choose from. Don’t get overwhelmed. What you buy will depend on how you plan to use your herbs. Do you want herbs for the scent, for healing purposes, for cooking or for use in cosmetics or maybe you just want something pretty to look at? No matter what your interest, you will have plenty of herb plants to choose from. Start by flipping through a book on herb gardening and focus on herbs that have the sun needs that your space can respond to. Before you know it, you’ll be ready to go!

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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