Choosing the Right Herb Containers

Regardless of whether you are gardening in your house or outside, herb growing containers will play a major role with regards as to how your herbs will blossom. It is therefore crucial that you pay attention to this matter seriously.

You may have read in some articles or websites that herb growing containers can be virtually anything, and that these plants are very adaptable. That is true to an extent. Some prefer the traditional pots made of terra cotta, while others like the window box.

Other possible herb growing containers are cans, old jars, vases, any flower pots you have lying around, etc. However, if you are going to cultivate culinary herbs, you need to look at the material of the container you are going to use. For example, some of the fancier holders sold in stores today come in an assortment of colors and have a bight sheen to them. Although they are nice to look at, these may contain lead which can be harmful to cooking herbs.

For this reason, herb growing containers almost always have labels stating it is safe to use them for nurturing culinary herbs, and if the containers are only meant for ornamental types. Obviously this is the most critical aspect of pot selection, so do some research here.

You will also want to consider the size of the herb growing containers. In most cases, these plants will blossom nicely in small pots, and it is not uncommon to see about 3 or 4 of them in a window box. If you want to grow larger herbs like the rosemary, you can purchase medium size pots.

Finally, there is the question of whether it is better to just grow seeds or starters. The choice of which ones you want to plant will depend on your needs. For practical purposes, the starters are better, because they grow at a much faster rate; compared with seeds, starters get ripe for picking in about a month, while starters take about 8 weeks.

However, some seeds in herb growing containers can be cultivated quickly. These include such popular cooking herbs as thyme, parsley, cilantro and sage. You also need to realize that these plants can be difficult to relocate, so you need to make sure that you plant them where you want it.

In preparing such materials as the soil and the overall design of the garden, the herb growing containers tend to be left behind or given only little thought. As you can see, these are actually very important. Through a thorough evaluation of the types, you will be able to discern which are most fit for your needs and which can best serve your plants.

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