4 Herb Container Gardens for Fabulous Global Cuisine

Cathy Lara This is exactly what I was looking for. So happy that I don't have to buy a beginner's guide to herb gardening — THANK YOU!

Kim Gamel Glad you liked it -- good luck!

professorlilith I have had good luck growing Basil even in part shade, with only three hours of light. The variety that has done best is pepperoni basil. Mints are so hardy they do ok in my climate (us zone 6) even under trees and in pots with direct light only an hour. I got a variety called mint julep this year and it is doing especially well. I have only a covered balcony and a northeast exposure so I have experimented a lot with pushing the sun requirements of plants.

SPACIFY INC, These ideas are awesome :) very useful and fun!

Michele Lister I live in the North East of the UK and I have a monster of a creeping rosemary bush, it has even been known to flower through the snow! Its in a raised container next to the house in full sun. It has survived the coldest winters on record in years and is very hardy. The bees and ladybugs love it : )

olldbobbi I didn't know cilantro was considered Asian, I only know I put it in salsa and guacamole! All this time I thought it was Mexican. But what a great idea to combine your favorite herbs in a single pot! Great ideabook, thanks Kim!

Kim Gamel Happy you are enjoying it! BTW, Cilantro is often found in springrolls. And basil is commonly used in Asian cooking, so feel free to add it to those pots as well!

catrine36 Love herbs!!!! This year I mixed my herbs with annuals in pots - very festive and smells wonderful! My chives (2 years running!) and tarragon have both over wintered in wooden raised beds much to my surprise!
Also - the basil plant shown has flowered - best to pinch them off as soon as you can if you want to continue to harvest.

Kim Gamel That's a very good point about herbs flowering! Always best to pinch flowers before they bloom to ensure the best flavor. Although flowering herbs make for nice photos! :-)

I hope to write an article soon about mixing "ornamental edibles" with your contained flowers for a gorgeous & delicious display.

songbyrd39 I really loved this article. Feels like "herb gardening for dummies". I'm disabled so gardening seemed only a dream. I think I can have shelves built and put the plants on them. Thanks!

Yany Hi Kim, first of all, I love your article. Thank you so much. I love herbs and have planted a few (lavender, rosemary, oregano, thyme, a few mints and other herbs). I'm actually excited because even though some of my lavenders were not doing good, a few actually made it and one even bloomed. I'm attaching some pictures here. Once again, thanks!!!

Yany I got some more pics here... :) I'm still working on the weeding though... They grow so fast.

Kim Gamel Lovely yn_crystal! Thanks for sharing!

drengr Bobbi, I believe the seeds of cilantro are coriander, which is used in lots of Asian/Indian cooking.

eims09 @Songbyrd39: Great idea for disabled gardeners- Irish designed pot holders make for easy gardening- thought you may be interested.Great too for those with limited space!
http://www.breezygardening.com/

pattyoc What a nice article. Last year I planted herbs for the first time and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, this year I got thrips on almost all my herbs. I've tried everything (lots of plants and soil thrown away), but thrips keep coming back = (

mylowesknows So I'm fairly new to gardening and really new to herbs... One of the comments said that she got Thrips on her herbs, and they kept coming back... What is a "thrip"? Some sort of slug or bug?

Yany @mylowesknows: I had to do a little research on this one, since I'm new to gardening as well. Thrips are little bugs that can cause a lot of damage to plants, even bringing diseases like fungus, etc. I read they can even bite humans and pets. Never seen them before, and I really hope I don't see those little ones.

Kim Gamel I've not yet had a run-in with thrips, I'm relieved to say, but here's some info on them from the Missouri Botanical Garden. I stay away from pesticides for any plants I eat, but if they are invading other parts of your garden you may find the tips helpful:

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/insects/thrips.aspx

scarbowcow I bookmarked this whole idea book. Wonderful information. Yany, love the blue pots you're using in your garden, especially the ceramic one with curved sides - lovely color and shape.

Yany @scarbowcow: Thank you. The pot you like came in that color, but the rest of the pots in the pictures are actually spray painted. Just bought a couple of terracotta ones and painted them in my favorite color, blue... :)

writerinfact Thank you! Since I'm not as young as I'd like to be, and can't bend as well or as far, I'm very pleased to see all kinds of information about container gardens. I think I may take the idea of raised beds a little farther than most people, though, since I want them raised to no-need-to-bend level! (Kind of like dogs - if you have to bend over to pet it . . .) In our experience, mint is best grown ONLY in containers, since it's aggressive and chokes out any other plants in its vicinity. Fortunately, even my Two Black Thumbs (the opposite of green ones) didn't manage to kill the mint since it grows like (you should pardon the expression, please) a weed!

Matt Webster Because there is so much overlap in herbs for different cooking styles, I'd recommend grouping the plants by water needs, rather than region.

Also, most of these herbs like to be trimmed often, and need little to no feeding (fertilizer). Trim often to keep from bolting (going to seed), and to keep the leaves softer, and more palatable. Generally speaking, the older the herb's leaf, the more tough and bitter it becomes.

pattyoc Contained Beauty, thank you so much for the link. These little bugs have been a nightmare for me, so any information I can get is really useful.

grandma42 Information should contain endurance of plants . Many are annuals yet some can over winter with some success by moving indoors.

Kim Gamel Thanks for your comment grandma42. Regarding the endurance of the plants, you can look to the USDA zone info to determine weather or not the plants are winter hardy in your area.

mirrorimage60 Never heard of Cilantro before but I can see from the picture and Latin name that it's what I would call Coriander. I presume Cilantro is the name used for it in the US.

judybernsteinbunzl great article. I live in a newly designated zone 7 area, but have not been able to overwinter rosemary outside. Do you have tips on how to overwinter herbs?
Thank you

catrine36 HI Judy,
If in the ground, mulch around well or try cutting down the plant until it fits within an overturned pot before winter settles. I live in zone 5 and have overwintered rosemary. I had to cut it down more in the spring, but it came back nicely. Good luck!

judybernsteinbunzl Thanks Catrine. Two more quetions if you don't mind, 1)the pot you use to cover the overwintering rosemary, does it have a hole on top? 2)if the herbs were potted and i wanted to bring them inside, any helpful hints? Judy

ednarhodes Hi Kim,
Thank you so much for your article. I am a beginner to herb gardening. i have grown herbs for the past two years now and could use some help. Many of them die because I either over water them or let them get too dry. Can you explain or send me a link where I can go to understand how to water my herbs?

Thanks in advance,
Augustine Rhodes

Kim Gamel @ Augustine, The variety of herb will determine how much water you need, as well as how much sun required. The above article gives general information on this per variety. If you are looking for more info, you might try this link: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/Portals/0/Gardening/Gardening%20Help/Factsheets/Herbs19.pdf
Hope this helps you! Good luck!