How to Start a Container Herb Garden Successfully in 2023

Author: Saiqa Najeeb
Last Updated On: July 28, 2023

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Nothing tastes as good as fresh produce. It tastes even better when you pick it in your own garden. What if you don’t have much space or no yard? You can have some herbs growing on a sunny patio, porch, or deck in containers.

A few minutes of planning and preparation will improve your success and enjoyment of any container herb garden. This guide covers the nitty-gritty of starting your herb garden in containers successfully.

Let’s start digging in!

Why grow herbs in containers?

Here is why you should start your own container herb garden:

Convenience: You can cultivate your garden just outside your kitchen doorway.
Sun: Your deck, patio, or the edge of your driveway may provide you with the sun you need to grow the majority of your vegetables and herbs.
Soil: Compacted soil is common in newly constructed homes. You could have soil-borne diseases. Trees and other ornamental plants may be competing for water and nutrients in your soil. You could have clay or sandy soil, and fixing it would need a significant amount of time and effort. Diseases and nematodes may be causing failure in your vegetable plot due to soil-borne concerns.
Water: It takes less water to water a few pots than it does to water a bigger area of soil.
Enabling: After the initial setup of large pots and sacks of soil, tending a container herb garden is less physically taxing than planting and tending an in-ground garden.

Read our detailed guide on growing dill in pots.

How to begin a container herb garden?

1 Container type

Take into account the material of the container: ceramic, clay, plastic, or wood. Each kind has advantages and disadvantages.

Plastic containers work well in hot conditions during the summer, but they require heavier media to offer support for the plants. Plastic retains water, is lightweight, and limits airflow.
Clay pots provide stability and air movement, but they are heavy, difficult to move, and require more frequent watering.
Wooden pots allow for increased airflow but require more frequent watering.
Ceramic pots are often glazed on the outside, limiting air movement yet holding water well.

You can pick and choose what works best for your container herb garden.

Related: Container gardening 101.

2 Light

Your container herb garden will require the same amount of direct sunlight as those grown in the ground. For this consideration, place containers correctly. They should be positioned inside the house near west and/or south-facing windows.

Supplemental lighting can be utilized if they still do not get enough light indoors. Garden centers and most big hardware stores sell growing lights. If this is not a viable alternative, two 40-watt white fluorescent lamps positioned six to twelve inches away from the plants and left on for 14-16 hours per day can suffice. Rotate containers on a regular basis to ensure that light reaches all sides of the plants equally. This will allow for healthy, balanced growth.

3 Soil

Soilless media is widely used for container herb garden; it resembles soil but is lighter in weight and keeps water and nutrients effectively. There are other soil mixtures available, however, these must be free of weed seeds, insects, and illnesses. Putting dirt straight from the earth into a container does not function well because it lacks appropriate drainage and air movement. To maintain fertility, mix controlled-release fertilizer into the media at planting time, then fertilize every week or two with a water-soluble fertilizer.

4 Water

Containers tend to dry out faster than ground soil. As a result, containers must be watered more frequently. Watering frequency is determined by whether the pot is porous, such as wood or clay. Herbs with similar water requirements can be combined. Because dill, cilantro, and parsley require similar levels of water, they can be grown together. Containers outside require extra water more regularly. Indoor containers should be checked to ensure they are not overwatered and do not attract pests or illnesses such as powdery or downy mildew.

5 Double Potting

Put a little smaller pot inside of your container to help avoid root damage from an overheated container in the summer or root burn from freezing temperatures in the winter. Fill the area between the interior walls of your outer and inner containers with soil to act as insulation. Then, place the plant into the smaller container.

The double potting, with insulation between the pots, will keep the soil holding the plant roots at a comfortable temperature. In the summer, double potting is especially useful if the exterior container is made of metal or black plastic, which heats up quickly and stays hot. Make sure the containers, like other plant containers, drain effectively. Don’t leave your containers in a saucer filled with water.

5 Fertilization

You will not be able to succeed in container gardening unless you use fertilizer. Your plants must obtain all of their nutrients from a limited area of soil, and any nutrients in that area will be depleted quickly. Container plants are typically densely planted, and all that foliage will demand fertilizers, and some nutrients will be washed away with each watering.

You can use organic granular fertilizer or a container mix that includes fertilizer while planting. Throughout the growth season, you will need to replace the soil’s nutrients. Follow the fertilizer package guidelines, but your goal should be frequent light fertilization. For citrus plants, use a commercial citrus fertilizer.

Related: Essential gardening tools

Herbs to grow in containers

Here are a few recommendations for a container herb garden:

Basil: ‘Wild Magic’ grows to only 16 inches tall and produces lovely violet flowers that attract pollinators.
Lemon basil ‘Spice Island’ has broader leaves and a wonderful lemon and spicy flavor..
Sage: ‘Variegated Berggarten’ is a lovely shrub with huge grey leaves.
Thyme: ‘‘English Wedgwood has greenish-yellow leaves and pink blooms
Lavender; ‘Hidcote’ is a traditional lavender for cooking, available fresh or dried. Semi-dwarf flowering plant with dark violet blooms.
Oregano: Organum vulgare, also known as Italian oregano.
Cilantro: Cool-season annual that blooms in the spring and autumn. To prevent bolting, pinch back.
Parsley: A biennial herb, but for the finest flavor, start a new plant every season.
Winter Savory: A spicy evergreen with pink flowers
Mint: An excellent for teas and in entrees. ‘Thai’ is perfect for Asian dishes. Per

How to plant a container herb garden?

Fill the pots of your choosing with bagged organic potting soil that does not include animal waste or chemical fertilizer. Adding compost to the soil might help it retain water.
When watering, leave at least 1″ of space from the top of the container to prevent soil from flowing over.
Stick to the instructions on the seed packets. You can easily sow the seeds in your larger container.
Spread multiple seeds; more is better than fewer because you can thin them (cut or pluck undesired plants and use them for activities) to eventually leave only a few plants per container.
Top with soil that is no more than 2-3 times the width of the seeds.
Covering the soil with light fabric will help keep it moist while the seedlings germinate. Dig a hole twice the size of the pot and plant purchased seedlings into damp potting soil.
To keep the soil and roots intact, make sure the seedling is thoroughly watered ahead of time. Press on the outsides of the container, slip the seedling’s soil/roots out and plant it into the container (taking careful not to harm the stem). Allow at least a few inches of room around each seedling to grow. Water right away after planting.

Harvesting

The majority of herbs can be cut again and will re-grow. After the plant has around 8 leaves, you can begin collecting the herbs by snipping the tops of the stems with scissors (or cutting the outer leaves at the base for parsley or cilantro). Leave a few leaves at the base to aid with regrowth.

You’re ready to start!

So, you’ve got to know about all the juicy insights to set up your herb garden in containers. It’s time to take action and put the valuable information to work. With the right strategies and a bit of sweat, you can have a thriving container garden.

Now is the time to get started. Soon, you’ll be picking and enjoying freshly flavored herbs right from your small space container garden.