The trend in backyard and balcony gardening is to grow food you can consume, from herbs to tomatoes and zucchini, to peppers and lettuce. For the novice green thumb, a good place to start is with a herb garden, whether those herbs are grown in a garden bed or in containers.
To ensure your herbs stay fresh, fragrant, and plentiful throughout the summer months, follow these eight simple suggestions from Frank Ferragine:
1. You’re better off growing herbs in single pots, because a month to two months in, the dominant herb will start to take over. Do larger single pots of the varieties you like to eat
2. Herbs do best in a sunny location, but they can take part-sun.
3. Some herbs, for instance sweet basil, don’t do well in high, windy areas. If you live in a condo and you’re doing herb pots on your balcony, try to ensure they’re okay with windy conditions. An alternative for basil is columnar basil which grows upright and has a pungent, almost licorice-like, flavour.
4. Always harvest. People often let herbs grow and grow and grow. You should be continually harvesting even if you’re not consuming the herbs. Many herbs can be stored in the fridge for a few days after they’ve been cut.
5. If newer, smaller leaves are appearing beneath a larger area of growth, trim just above the new area so that it gets the sun (see video for demonstration).
6. Harvest your herbs before they go to seed. If you let them go to seed it’ll weaken the plant and take away from the flavour.
7. Water in the morning or evening, not midday when the sun is the strongest.
8. If you’re growing herbs in a container you’ll want to fertilize. As far as organic options go, try a fish-based fertilizer. It doesn’t smell great, but it works.
For more from Frank Ferragine on caring for your herbs throughout the summer, watch the video below.