Growing Cooking Herbs at Home

photo by Lizard

Part of living a greener lifestyle is doing things yourself. An easy, fun eco project is to start growing your own cooking herbs. You can easily grow enough plants in small pots, making it feasible to have fresh herbs growing all year round even if you are limited on space.

Growing herbs yourself you will reduce what you need, reducing the negative effects of processing, packaging and transportation, while increasing your ability to produce for yourself and even share with others. You'll also save a little money and may even be inspired to cook at home more.

Which are the best herbs to grow indoors? How exactly does one start an indoor herb garden? First make sure you have what you need — suitable pots, potting soil and a sunny location in the home such as a windowsill. You can use almost anything for planting containers, although they must be clean (don't use previously used containers that held cleaning products or anything with chemicals) and you need to be able to poke small holes or a hole in the bottom for drainage. Recycle plastic milk jugs or soda bottles if you want. Simply cut off the tops and poke small holes in the bottom. You can always purchase three or four small pots. If you enjoy gardening you will get plenty of use out of them. Size does matter. Usually for herbs smaller pots are suitable, such as a four or six inch container, at least six inches deep.

Fill with potting soil, not dirt from outside, leaving about two inches of space from the top of the soil to the top of the container. If possible use organic potting soil. You can also make your own if you have access to compost. Use 2 parts of compost with 1 part garden soil and 1 part sand.

Which herbs are easy to grow indoors? Try:

• Thyme
• Sage
• Basil
• Chives
• Mint
• Oregano
• Rosemary

Start from seed or visit your local nursery for small plants. How to care for your herbs? Lots of sun and not too much water. The soil shouldn't remain moist. Once you've mastered growing cooking herbs you can start your own indoor vegetable garden.