Growing HerbsIn Containers
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Sandra Quigley
Posted on: February 26, 2007

I love to have fresh herbs. Where we are living now we can not put anything in the ground...so we must use containers.

I didn’t have much success last year doing it this way. Any suggestions you have in soil, fertilizer, watering, container, type of herbs that do well, etc would be appreciated.

Try to use as big a container as you can, as the temperature and moisture fluctuations will be less, the larger the container. Make sure your containers have holes in the bottom to provide the excellent drainage that most herbs require. Use a well-draining fairly moisture retentive mix, such as Pro-Mix. Do fertilize with an organic fertilizer every second time you water to make sure the soil does not get depleted of nutrients. All of the common culinary herbs should do well as long as they get at least half a day of sun. Do not overcrowd, but having just one little herb in the middle of a huge pot leaves the herb too exposed to do well at the start and it may then never catch up. Separate herbs about six inches (15cm) from each other and put the larger growing ones at the centre and/or at the back of the pot.

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