Home herb gardening is easy and can be a great deal of fun with a little imagination and ingenuity. Even living in a small apartment you can find or create a way to have your own herb garden for culinary or magickal use, or both. If you live in an apartment that has a balcony you can create a hanging herb garden or use a variety of containers to plant in. If your balcony does not get enough sun for plants, you can speak to your landlord and ask if you can set up a container garden somewhere on your complex or building’s grounds, perhaps even see about starting a community garden on the grounds. This can be beneficial for everyone living there and even if you only get a little bit of interest you have accomplished a great deal.
First, vertical gardening. There are multitudes of ways to create vertical gardens, and sites like Pinterest have entire pages devoted to different ideas. The first one I came across was a hanging shoe organizer someone had converted by simply putting potting soil in the spots where the shoes go, and poking small holes in the bottom of each one so they can drain adequately. Old rain gutters can also be repurposed to create a vertical herb garden. Articles on the processes can be found here: http://greenupgrader.com/8460/diy-vertical-herb-garden-with-a-shoe-organizer/. Following some of the links found within as well as at the end of the article will lead you to other clever recycled and unusual garden ideas. The best rain gutter garden article I have come across can be found here: http://nestinstyle.com/garden/how-to-make-a-hanging-gutter-garden/. If you don’t have the tools available to do the cutting and drilling yourself many hardware stores will do it for you for a small fee.
If outdoor growing is not an option for you at all, you can find varieties of pots and planters intended for herbs, such as “strawberry planters” which are ideal for a one pot herb garden. All you need is one nice sunny spot in your apartment to make an indoor herb garden work. For plant health, unpainted terra cotta pots are ideal, they allow for the best natural drying of soil between waterings. Few plants do well with “wet feet” which is why so many that are left in plastic pots fare poorly unless they are designed specially to allow for better drainage. In an herb planter you will want to choose the plant that has the greatest height and needs more area for the center space of the planter. Lavender or rosemary, for example, do best in the central area while mint, thyme, oregano and others will do well in the side sections. Herb planters tend to be lower and wider at the top.
You can also create windowsill gardens using a number of small pots. Make sure you research what you intend to grow so you know how much space you will need. Herbs from nurseries generally have several plants in a single pot. If you have a pot with several plants and you don't have enough space for all of them, you can thin the pot by removing all but the hardiest few. If you're feeling adventurous, you can also start from seed.
Small Space Herb Gardening
Nyx Whyteraven
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