How to Enjoy Your Indoor Herb Garden All Year Round

Growing up in an Italian household all our lives has taught us a few major things. First, that we are loud as all heck, and second that our food is very important to us. One way we guarantee good taste is through the use of fresh flavors! So we are sharing how we keep our herb garden fresh all year long! We have just moved into a new apartment so we decided to start our indoor herb garden over starting with basil, spearmint, sage and kale. And soon we will add rosemary and thyme to our little green family.

The first thing to remember when starting your indoor garden is to know which plants have a fair chance to thrive inside. Some of these include basil, chives, thyme, sage, parsley, spearmint, rosemary and many more!

Now that you have decided which flavors are your favorites it’s time to find them a home! An important thing to remember is that indoor plants need around 4-6 hours of sunlight a day. Make sure to find a well lit window, preferably not one directly facing a tree or building. When winter rolls around remember to keep a safe distance from the window pane. If put too close the plants can retail the cold air and be forced to use more energy to stay warm instead of growing. Also, make sure not to keep your house too warm because this can dry out the soil!

Now that your plants have the perfect home it’s time to get dirty… literally. Make sure that the soil you chose is well draining and fresh. Avoid soil from the ground outside your home, it could lack certain minerals your plant will need to grow properly. Also, make sure that the pot you choose has holes in the bottoms, rocks or even gardening foam which we purchased at the dollar store for excess water. Fun Fact! In order to prevent water damage to our wooden table by the sill we started with paper towels under each pot but after changing these a few times we decided to pick up a small plastic serving dish to collect the excess water.

At this point, after all that work, you probably want a drink. Well so do your new seedlings! Make sure to water your plants regularly, we water them each morning after the sun rises. Be wary to not over or under water your plants. If you start to notice their leaves turning brown, increase their water. If you notice that they are turning yellow, decrease their water intake.

Now it’s time to be rewarded for all of your hard work! When your plants have more than 8-10 leaves it’s safe to start your mini harvest! Make sure that when you do start picking that you make a mix of large and small leaves. BIG TIP: DO NOT pluck of all of the leaves!! Their leaves are the plants’ gateway to creating energy so leaving a few large leaves can help keep your herbs for longer!

 

We hope you enjoy your gardens and let us know below what you used your herbs for!!