What Is the Best Place to Grow Herbs?

Indoors

• Growing herbs indoors can be convenient because they will be nearer to the kitchen than an outdoor garden. However, it can be difficult to provide the full lighting that most herbs require and you may need to supplement with artificial light. Perennial herbs will do better if they are set outdoors during the summer. They can remain in their pots; simply plant the pots in the ground up to the rims. Bring the pots back into the house in the fall.

Soil

• When using a ground bed for herbs, choose a well-drained area. Test the soil to ensure that it has the proper pH level for the herbs you wish to plant; most herbs do best in neutral soil, in a range of 6.5 and 7.0. When growing herbs in containers, you will need a potting soil that drains well and is not too rich. One that is a mixture of sand, commercial potting mix, peat moss and perlite is ideal. Look for clay pots with good drainage holes to ensure that plant roots will not become waterlogged in a poorly drained container. Clay containers are porous and so are preferable to plastic ones.

Sun or Shade

• Most herbs need sunny areas, while some prefer partial shade. Check the growing preferences of a herb before choosing its planting location. If a herb does not take climate changes or changing light conditions well, it might best be placed inside with a steady indoor lighting source. Incandescent lights can generate too much heat for plants; fluorescent lights are a better choice for adding supplemental light.

Drainage

• The most important consideration when planting herbs is good drainage. Adding materials that promote good soil drainage can help turn a poorly drained soil bed into a good planting area. Remove the soil to a depth of 15 to 18 inches. Add a layer of crushed stone at the bottom and mix in some compost or sphagnum peat and sand. You can then refill the bed with the soil. This will improve the drainage to a marked degree.