Summer Potted Herb Garden
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Pamela
Posted on: April 29, 2011

I am looking to grow culinary herbs this summer in a large outdoor planter. So I was wondering: 1. Which herbs work best? I was thinking some basil, sage, rosemary, cilantro.... 2. Would any of these be able to be brought in doors during Winter? If so, I definitely do not have the space indoors for 1 large outdoor planter! Should I, or could I, re-pot them?

If you check our Culinary herb garden collection, the 12 herbs it includes would be a good choice for a first try in herb gardening. Cilantro is not on the list, but if you use it alot by all means include it in your garden. It has to be resown every two weeks for a fresh supply so re-potting is not a good idea, but just sow the plants destined for indoor use straight into pots. By that time the sun should no longer bake the pots, so no problem.

Basil is an annual and would be petering out in the Fall, so resow some into pots before it gets too cool out of doors. Temperatures close to 50F /10C kill it so August is probably your best choice for a pot sowing date.

If you have Winters with zone 7 or colder temperatures, rosemary must come indoors to survive. In that case you will have better luck with the transition to indoor conditions if you plant the shrub in a fairly large pot and sink it into your planter pot and all. It will get minimal transplanting shock when it is moved indoors and is more likely to survive indoors.

Sage is easy to move to a pot in the Fall and have it survive in a cool room over the Winter.

Back to Growing Herbs | Q & A Index

Copyright © 1997-2024 Otto Richter and Sons Limited. All rights reserved.