Monday, 17 November 2008

Organic Herb Gardening Indoors

Organic herbs are the perfect recipe for your indoor garden. Most herbs are small and will grow very well in pots or window boxes that you can place in a sunny spot in your kitchen, living room or bedroom.

Others, like bay, need a larger pot but will happily grow indoors and provide a beautiful leafy corner in your home. With the wider spreading large herbs like rosemary and lavender, you may be able to find dwarf varieties that will grow in pots on the window sill.

Even if you have a big garden outside, there are advantages to growing your herbs indoors. First, you do not have far to go when you want to add a taste of your favorite herb to a dish that you are cooking. You do not have to brave the cold or wet weather, either. Just pluck a few leaves and throw them in the pot.

Second, some herbs such as mint can be invasive and take over your whole garden if you are not careful, popping up all over the lawn and overwhelming their smaller defenseless neighbors. You have to grow them in a pot if you want to be able to control them at all, so you may as well have them in the house where you know they cannot cause any trouble.

Growing herbs in the house will also bring their fresh natural fragrances into your home. It is like having your home permanently scented with essential oils. You can put plants that smell good together into the same room. Almost every herb can find a place in your house.

Lavender is traditionally used around clothes and in the bedroom. Stronger smelling herbs that you often use in your own cooking will be best in the kitchen, both for convenience and to give the room the scent of your own cooking. Some plants will prefer the damper atmosphere of the bathroom, some will like to be where it is warm, others prefer cooler spots and part shade.
It is fun, too. You will naturally take good care of the plants because you will see them every day.

If you have kids, you can involve them in the process and have them look after some of the plants or help you water or pick them. You may find that your cooking becomes more adventurous as you are tempted to use more of the new and different herbs that you are growing.

And since you are growing them in the house, why not go organic? This is the best solution for all of your food and it is easy enough to do. Most of the pests and airborne diseases that can plague your garden plants will not be found in the house. So all you have to do is buy organic herb seeds and potting soil, avoid using chemical fertilizers, and you have your indoor organic herbs.