Best Herbs for a Window Box
Best Herbs for a Window Box
Being able to fit an entire herb garden into a window box can be the solution to little or no garden space. A window box can be filled with several plants, each growing in a different manner and then added to a table, window or patio to grow and add beauty to your home or apartment. For whatever reason you are interested in growing herbs– to use in the kitchen, for potpourri, for tea or beauty products– growing a wide range of plants during the growing season is possible when you know the best herbs to try.
For a well filled window box that will provide you with all the herbs you need for picking all summer long, try planting these varieties.
Chives
Salad friendly chives are an early and fast grower, capable of filling the back or middle section of a window box nicely. If you have a small plant, center it in the box, or place it towards the back because chives will fill out and grow upwards.
Parsley
There are a lot of different varieties of parsley, but all of them are leggy so selecta variety you are familiar with and plant it on one end of the planter. The long stems will have the tendency to droop and hang over the sides of the container so you’ll be able to get a trailing effect.
Lemon Thyme
Another fast filler and creeper, thyme is an herb that is great for any box, but needs to be kept in check so that it doesn’t try to take over the growing space of the other plants in the window box. Plant it towards the front and edge of your window boxes so that it can grow over the sides of the box and take up as much room as it wants in this way.
Basil
Basil is a great container plant, but it does require more water than other herbs, so putting it in a section of the window box where it can spread out on its own without other herbs planted in front or behind it is necessary. As a fast grower, your basil plant will need to be constantly trimmed and pinched, but if you are growing it for use in the kitchen that shouldn’t be a major issue anyway.
Cilantro
Plant cilantro near any basil plants you have added because they are comfortable with frequent watering or drier conditions, making them a great soil buffer to have between the basil and other herbs. Cilantro will grow outwards and upwards and can be planted in any portion of the window box without getting in the way of other plants.
French Tarragon
French Tarragon is great for use in a kitchen herb garden because it gives food a unique and bold flavor that you aren’t going to find in any other herb or plant. This compact plant has woody stems with thin leaves that can be picked for use whenever you are ready to toss them in a dish. Keep the soil around their roots loose and sandy.
