Balcony Herb Gardening
It feels so good to pick your own food, to eat well and know that it's all healthy!
Getting into the earth!
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Preparation!
Perhaps the most important things about growing any plants are the quality of the soil, natural light, regular watering, protection from harsh weather and the size of the container.
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I love natural clay pots but one can use almost any sort of container as long as there is good drainage. Make sure that there are holes in the base of the container so that the container does not get waterlogged because then the roots will rot and the plant will die.
Let's start with natural pots ...
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Clay pots have been used for thousands of years as containers for plants, from herbs to cacti and colourful flowering plants like tulips and lilies and orchids.
So in using traditional terracotta clay pots like these you will be part of a chain of thousands of years of home gardeners!
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Also make sure that you have a water-containing tray of the right size to put under your pot when your purchase them as this will prevent surface watermarking from overflow and keep your herbs nicely moist! You can also save some money and re-use chipped bowls or saucers instead, creating a variety of shapes and styles.
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Pots come in many different sizes and you should plant diferent herbs in different size pots. Different countries have different measurements for container volume but I'm going to make it easy by using a household bucket as large, half a bucket as medium and a quarter bucket as small.
Easy peasy!
... and soil
Your local garden centre or plant nusery or even supermarket will have racks of bags of soil.
For our purpose we're just going to use ordinary "potting soil". Depending on how sophisticated your garden centre is, you may get different qualities of potting soil. Essentially you want one with a fine grain, not one with pieces of bark or wood chips. Feel the packet to make sure it feels smooth without any lumps!
... and tools
We're going to need really basic tools; just a small hand trowel/spade, clippers or secateures.
There are all sorts of different styles of tools out there, from stainless steel with handcrafted wooden handles; minimalist design or really basic and cheap. So for now, just get a small trowel that fits within your budget.
... and cool extras
Name stakes and other funky stuff.
Your local craft shop or craft market will probably have a cool variety of plant name tages like these. If not, it's a great weekend project or you can be lazy and order online form http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/herb-markers
