Herbs In Containers

A container herb garden not only looks delightful and is highly convenient, but also has the great charm of being created almost overnight. Once you've assembled the containers and your selection of herbs, planting up the most compatible partners is easy and enjoyable.

Interest in herb growing has encouraged potters, garden centers and nurseries to extend their range of interesting pots and containers. So, even if your budget does not allow for beautiful antique jardinières, there are inexpensive wooden tubs and reasonably priced terracotta urns widely available. Even cheap plastic pots can be improved by the addition of a thin coat of mortar or household filler tinted grey or green.

Some herb gardeners prefer the restrained formalism of topiary, such as clipped bay trees in tubs placed at the doorway of a town house. Other woody herbs such as rosemary and lavender can also be trained and clipped into mop-head shapes. On a windy site, it's a good idea to cover the growing medium with gravel or heavy pebbles to weigh down the container. Matching pots well planted and artfully positioned can achieve a dramatic and attractive effect. Containers of tall growing herbs can form an attractive and informal screen in a garden.

The best growing medium for containers is a mixture of equal parts of gritty sand, loam and peat plus a dose of slow-release fertilizer, or use one of the proprietary blends of peat specially designed for pot-grown plants. Every container should have one or more drainage holes to prevent the plant getting waterlogged.

If a pot is large, place a length of perforated hose-pipe vertically in the middle of the pot so that you can water the plant through it. Surround the pipe with the growing medium and finally plant the herbs. A strawberry pot or tub, which looks charming planted up with different varieties of thyme, is best planted as you fill it with the soil mixture. Make a layer of crocks in the base of the pot and wedge a length of perforated hose-pipe vertically in the centre, then cover the crocks with soil until level with the first opening in the side of the pot. Place herb plant on the soil and gently push its leaves out through the hole, then spread out the roots and cover with soil, pressing it down gently to hold the herb in position. Now add more soil with a trowel until level with the next opening and plant another herb in the same way.

Hanging baskets are best lined with sphagnum moss to facilitate drainage and to cut down on weight. To fill a wire basket, place pieces of moist moss with their green tufty growth flat against the wire. Then half fill with the growing medium, place the herbs in position and bed them in well with extra medium. If the soil in a newly planted container looks too bare, try covering it with bark chippings or gravel, or even sow some mustard and cress which will germinate quickly and provide a green edible sward which can be cropped as the main herbs grow and spread.

Water the herbs as they require it, bearing in mind that leafy fleshy herbs such as basil prefer a damp soil while those from the Mediterranean such as rosemary like slightly arid conditions. Each time you water the pots, give them a good drenching. Hanging baskets tend to lose much more moisture than other containers. During the summer give fast-growing herbs an occasional feed of liquid organic fertilizer. Woody herbs, like hyssop, rosemary and lavender, should be pruned after flowering to ensure strong healthy growth for the following year. Trim herbs regularly to keep them in good shape and, if necessary, winter the tender perennial herbs such as tarragon and chives under cover in a light frost-proof place.

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