Create your own indoor herb garden this weekend and you could be picking homegrown rosemary to flavour your Sunday roast!
WHAT TO GROW There's nothing more rewarding than enhancing your cooking using homegrown freshly picked herbs. Plant this trio and you're covered for a host of dishes.
THYME can be grown successfully indoors – it simply needs a bright windowsill and some basic care and attention to thrive.
ROSEMARY The heady scent emanating from rosemary is delicious, and this highly fragrant herb is very easy to grow. Being a Mediterranean herb, it will appreciate a warm sunny spot.
LAVENDER The lavender plant makes a lovely partner for both the thyme and the rosemary. Lavender is hard to resist, boasting beautiful flowers and an arresting scent. It adds a delicate flavour to cooking that’s especially wonderful in light desserts.
HOW TO PLANT YOUR CONTAINER A wooden crate found in a junk shop makes a perfect herb garden planter.
You will need
- An old wooden crate
- Drainage material eg. gravel or small pebbles
- Potting compost. We recommend environmentally friendly, peat-free enriched BioChar compost eg. GroChar from Carbon Gold.
- Decorative mulch eg. fine gravel or shells
1. Cover the bottom of the crate with a layer of drainage material, such as gravel or pebbles, aiming to fill about a quarter of the container’s volume. This will allow the roots to breathe and prevent them from drowning.
2. Fill the container with potting mix to bring the plant up so that the top of the root-ball is just beneath the rim of the container. Make sure it is not lopsided.
3. Carefully feed more potting mix in between the plants and container, and firm it down. Avoid compacting the potting mix too much, though, as this will hinder drainage.
4. Add a layer of decorative mulch, such as fine gravel or shells, to finish off the planting. Not only does this make the container look more attractive, but it can also help to reduce the rate of water evaporation.
Find more inspiring indoor gardening ideas in issue 20 of The Simple Things.