There are those who are blessed with a green thumb and there are those who have, well, just an ordinary flesh-coloured one. If, like me, you fall into the second category and find the prospect of a herb garden a bit daunting or if you live in a flat, but would really like an easily accessible variety of fresh herbs, a kitchen herb garden is the way to go.

All you need to get started is lots of sunlight (or a strong fluorescent light), pots, potting soil and herb seeds or seedlings. You should choose herbs which you use regularly in cooking and that are easy to grow indoors. We got some advice from Deborah Hele from www.gardenshop.co.za on how to get your garden started.

Choosing the right herb

Herbs are all pretty much the same and it doesn’t matter which ones you plant, right? Not quite, herbs fall into two basic categories – perennials and annuals. Perennials continue to grow year after year, whereas annuals (as the name suggests) only last a year.

Be sure to plant perennials and annuals in separate pots or boxes, because removing the annuals when they die can damage the perennials and failing to do so can cause rotting.

You also need to consider which herbs you are actually going to use in your cooking. Think about the dishes that you cook most often and pick herbs which go well with these dishes. Here are some guidelines:

Perennials

Chives – salads, sauces, fish or vegetables

Oregano – pasta sauces, chicken, salad dressings

Sage – stuffing, pork, duck, blend into cheeses

Rosemary – meat, especially lamb

Thyme – fish and poultry, vegetables

Annuals

Basil – pesto, sauces, chicken, Mediterranean dishes

Parsley – salads, vegetables, breads, soup, pasta

While it is possible to grow some of these herbs from seeds (Basil, Chives and Rosemary) it is easier and more immediately gratifying to buy seedlings and transfer them into pots of your own.

Picking the perfect pot

Herbs thrive in sunlight, so you’ll want to pick the sunniest spot in the room, which is generally the windowsill. The means that whatever pot or box you pick needs to fit comfortably into this space. In fact, as you might need to put the pot on a drainage saucer, you should probably pick a pot that is slightly smaller than the windowsill.

A good size is between four and six inches in diameter and eight inches deep. Make sure that the pot you choose has draining holes. Plastic pots are cheap and easy to come by, but if you would prefer something a little more aesthetically pleasing, go for clay pots or a long window box. You can even create a quaint cottage feel by planting herbs in old teapots or broken mugs. However, if you do this, be sure that you have some sort of drainage system.

Sorting out your soil

While herbs planted in your garden can survive and thrive in all types of soil, garden soil is too heavy for potted plants. Buy some potting soil from your local nursery and mix this with 20 percent perlite (a crushed rock which provides aeration and moisture retention). Put about an inch of gravel or charcoal at the bottom of the pot before adding your soil to ensure adequate drainage.

Going to seed...

Before planting your seeds, soak them in water and place them between wet paper towels for about four hours.

Fill your containers with gravel and potting soil. If you are planting seeds sprinkle them over the soil and cover with another quarter inch of soil. If you are planting seedling, dig a small hole and bury the roots in the soil.

If you are using a window box and are planting more than one seedling in the same box, plant them two to three inches from each other. It is a good idea to label the different types of herbs – you can either use stickers on the outside of the box, or you can stick flags into the soil next to the herb.

When planting seedlings, you can simply water them and leave them on the windowsill. If you are planting seeds however, you will need to move them to a warm place (such as the top of the fridge) once you have watered them thoroughly. This will help with the germination process. Whenever the soil dries out, water them again. Once the seeds have started sprouting, you can move them to the windowsill.

Lots of sun and a dash of water

Herbs really do need a lot of sunlight to grow – at least four hours of good sunlight a day. If your windowsill only gets a small amount of sun, you can invest in a strong fluorescent light. This needs to be situated quite close to your herbs and needs to shine on them for at least four hours.

Scraggly and sagging herbs usually mean too little sunlight or too much water. While potted herbs need to be watered more regularly than herbs in the ground, you can still over-water. Watering deeply every few days is better than a light watering every day. “A balance is to water when the top one centimetre of soil has dried out” says Deborah Hele. Sometimes winter heating can dry your herbs out, so spray with a fine mist of water once a week.

Friendly fertilizers

Pots hold a limited amount of soil, which also means that they hold a limited amount of nutrients. You should fertilize your herbs once a month. Your best bet is to use a good house plant food. Deborah Hele suggests organic food such as Nitrosol or Seagro.

Remember that you are planning to eat your herbs, so bear this in mind when you put anything on the plants – you don’t want to poison yourself! You can make a good organic insecticide by grinding garlic cloves, mixing them in water, and spaying them over your plants.

Harvesting your herbs

Once your herbs are growing nicely, you can harvest them everyday. In fact, trimming your herbs actually promotes growth. To get the most flavour out of your herbs, cut them early in the morning. If you have an abundance of a particular herb, that doesn’t grow very well in winter, you could cut and dry it.

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