10 Reasons to Grow Herbs in Containers

Growing herbs in containers has many advantages, this post refers mainly to outdoor containers which can be anything from an old pair of wellies to large stone troughs!

1.  Anyone can do it; you don't need much space and with the top tips coming up in a future blog post, you should have a beautiful, fragrant and useful addition to your living space.

2.  They can be put almost anywhere.  They can be on steps, windowsills, attached to walls, placed on plant stands, in a windowbox, on a balcony, by the kitchen door or hung from brackets if using hanging baskets.  If you use a plant stand you can garden standing instead of bending over.  You can move them around as necessary eg move them into the shade if it gets too hot and into the sun if their current position is overshadowed by trees or buildings.

3.  Less chance of weeds or other invasive plants taking over in a container.

4.  You don't need to worry so much about garden pests.

5.  It is easier to plant up, maintain and harvest from a container.

6.  A smaller investment of time and money than a garden patch.

7.  You can choose a different theme for each container. How about a 'Perfume Pot' or an italian theme or just keep it simple and have one herb per pot.

8.  If you grow tender herbs in  containers .eg basil, lemon verbena, pineapple sage or scented pelargoniums, it is easier to bring them indoors when there is a risk of frost.

9.  You can control the soil type and growing conditions to suit the herb's requirements eg Have a sandy soil for thymes, fertile and moist soil for mint plants.

10.  Containers are ideal used for invasive herbs such mints, lemon balm, soapwort and tansy.   

This is just a small example of the information contained in my herb gardening e-book that I am currently editing, it will be jam-packed with useful information about starting a herb garden and then how to keep it alive!  If you have found this blog post useful and want to be one of the first to know when the e-book is available, just drop me a quick e-mail.  You'll be on my priority list and therefore entitled to a limited early bird discount offer.  Thanks!

Comments

[Nancy Bond]

Very useful tips!