Balcony/windowsill herb gardens
 

I noticed the topic's come up once or twice in the food forum about growing your own herbs, thought it'd be nice to have a dedicated thread.

Where/how do you get something like this running? I saw some starter kits at Superstore the other day, will this work or should I go to an actual garden supply place or home depot or something?

I have two options, one on the balcony outdoors and one indoors on a nice wide window sill. Both get a lot of afternoon sunlight. I prefer outdoors but the window sill might be nice if there's no risk of overflowing water or spillage.

Herbs I would be interested in growing: rosemary, oregano, basil. Is one type better suited for outdoors or indoors?

Pics and ideas of your own setups would be nice to share too!

rosemary is suited for outdoors for sure. you want to be able to have a huge bush of it not just a tiny little plant. i've tried growing it indoors a few times and without a lot of success.

also chives cannot be grown indoors. they need the wind and outdoor environment to grow rigid. in an indoor pot they just flop.

basil is an easy plant to grow. needs lots of sun and water, and you have to learn how to pinch it back. pinch above the second set of leaves and it'll multiply. if you regularly apply this trick you'll have basil for the whole season.

im not growing herbs this year but i have for the last 3 years.

I grow herbs on my balcony as well, the BIG trick is knowing exactly how much and what kind of light you get.

Rosemary and Dill are both pretty resilient, I do oregano and basil as well (and this makes for the BEST summer pasta dishes).

Just not having much luck starting rosemary from seed.

Oh don't grow anything from seed, it's too late in the year already. Buy seedlings.

Where do you recommend getting seedlings? Home depot?

i'm also looking into growing my own herbs!! i heard that they're very rewarding. i was looking at the baby plants at home depot and was also wondering if i would get a better result if i try planting in the ground outside. some herbs i'm looking at are lemon balm, dill, rosemary, and oregano. lemon balm for sure i'd love to have a giant bush of it if possible. smells amazing!

There's a great garden place out in maple ridge that I really like (in fact I'm heading out there this weekend), it's just down from Hobcotts.

Canadian Tire though or home depot, Superstore probably they'll all have seedlings though they'll probably cost more than at a garden store.

I haven't done Lemon Balm so I can't speak to that the others will do a lot better outside though and now that it looks like we're done with the big chills it's the time to do it. If you can get them in direct sun for at least a good chunk of the day. The last too summers have been too cool for balcony tomatoes and peppers sadly unless you can get a LOT of sun on them (roof top gardens, not balconies for these suckers).

I have a lemon balm bush. I already have too much and this one's in an awkward spot right beside a footpath.
Was going to kill it this weekend, but you might as well just come get it instead of buying a seedling and growing it?

I just bought a lemon balm at home depot forgot price tho I think around 2 dollars.

I posted this in the lifehacks thread a couple days ago and I may as well post it here as well.

A shoe organizer repurposed into a vertical herb garden. Great solution for those with less space!
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/4...3070721610.jpg

Okay, I got a 32" balcony planter box, one of those cheap plastic ones, with the metal hangers, and some soil.

I am thinking 2 oregano, 2 basil, 1 rosemary and 1 dill. Not sure if that is too dense? Or could I fit more?

Are there any lemon trees that can handle our winters?

make sure you grow greek oregano.

Agreed. Greek oregano.


As for 2 of them, i'd cut one and replace it with chives. Organo is hearty and you don't need a lot.

I ended up with 1 rosemary, 1 oregano, 1 basil and 2 cilantro. I read Chives required a deep pot for the roots, which my window box is not.

Is there a method to plucking and using the herbs? I looked up pinching basil and that looked ok, but what about the others?

Basil and Cilantro are annuals. Your rosemary and oregano could survive and give you herbs year after year. You should plant more basil.. especially you can make pesto out of them and store them in icecubes.. break it out when you need them.

As for method: Rinse, bruise then use?