Create a windowsill herb garden

<p>Herbs make any meal taste better, especially when they&rsquo;re picked fresh from your own garden.</p><p>This guide will show you how to plant and care for a Herb Garden, so you&rsquo;ll have a good supply for the kitchen.</p>

  • Choose a sunny windowsill which gets at least 6 hours of sun. Lack of enough sunshine will leave you with spindly, stressed plants, with little flavour.
  • Select your containers ensuring plenty of drainage holes. Use a saucer to avoid marking your sill.
  • Start by putting a layer of potting mix in the bottom.
  • Gently remove the herb plant from its original pot loosening the roots.
  • Finish with potting mix, firming gently around the plant leaving space for watering.
  • Water immediately.
  • Drain the saucer when excess water accumulates.
  • Harvest regularly to encourage them to grow full and bushy.
  • Feed your herbs weekly.

Top Tip: Never trim more than 1/3 of the plant’s foliage. Pruning more than that can stress the plant.

 

Here are our top 5 herbs that create a wonderful windowsill herb garden:

Sweet Basil:

Basil brings a taste of the Mediterranean to your food! This popular annual herb is fast-growing so will last just one season. Young foliage can be picked as required, avoiding whole stems as this weakens the plant.

Chives:

This onion flavoured herb is an easy to grow perennial herb – great for salads!

Rosemary:

This woody-stemmed evergreen herb produces tasty leaves that can be harvested year after year. Rosemary can be added to soups, stews and casseroles; whole sprigs can be roasted with root vegetables or sprinkled over Italian breads such as focaccia to add flavour.

Parsley:

Parsley is a biennial herb with a two-year life cycle. It is a hungry plant so ensure it is kept well fed and watered. Of the two varieties available, the curly-leaved parsley is commonly used as a garnish or in parsley sauce. Flat-leaved parsley has a stronger taste as is used more widely in Mediterranean recipes.

Thyme:

This small leaved evergreen herb will form mounds of edible foliage all year round. There are many varieties of thyme available with different aromas and uses ranging from soups, sauces and adding to fish and meat dishes.