Herb gardening: Indoors or outdoors?

Herb gardening: Indoors or outdoors?

Many kinds of herbs that do well indoors, will also do well outdoors, and vice versa. This is one of the great things about herb gardening – herbs are easily grown because they don’t have large requirements, and they can thrive in most kinds of soil, which other plants would not be able to. Their nutrient requirements are low, and they can often tolerate most kinds of short term droughts.

For either indoors or outdoors, many kinds of herbs are able to adjust to both, and that is the advantage of growing herbs. So, you’re not really limited when it comes to deciding where the herbs ought to go. Herb gardening is probably the easiest type of gardening to do because of these reasons, and I’d recommend beginners just starting out in gardening, to grow just herbs. This is one good reason to grow them – they can thrive in both indoor and outdoor conditions, without complaining.

Here’s a few types of flexible herbs, that can take to either indoors or outdoors.

Chives can grow indoors or outdoors, in the soil, or in pots.They grow best in the garden soil though, being able to absorb the heat from the sun and sprout up to a foot or more, producing nice purple colored flowers. They do well bunched together and can last years, wintering over well, in cold climates. For maintenance, they should be clipped near to the base, rather than higher up.

chives herb
Chives

Bay Laurel is a Mediterranean native so it naturally prefers hot and dry climates. But because of its hardiness, it can be planted indoors or outdoors. It just needs plenty of sunlight, whether it be indoors or outdoors. Just make sure the container has good drainage if you want this herb in a pot. For Bay Laurel to thrive, it needs a large container to prevent it from becoming root bound, and 6 hours or more of sun per day.

Parsley is an excellent choice for an indoor herb. Even though it will grow well outside, it will probably only last one season, being a biennial herb. If you want to keep it going, grow it in a pot; parsley are best grown from cuttings rather than seeds because the seeds do not germinate well.

parsley herb
Parsley

The parsley’s new leaves grow from the center, so trim the outer ones first in order to keep the plant healthy. Parsley love plentiful sunshine, and in indoor conditions, will need around 5 hours of sunlight per day; put them on a sill in a window with southern exposure (in the Northern Hemisphere) where they can soak up the rays.

The Common Lavender is a great herb for the outdoor garden, especially for flower beds. Lavender requires very little care, just make sure the soil drains so it isn’t excessively wet. They’re bug-resistant and their oil has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties as well.

Let that lavender stay outside until you’re ready to prepare it for potpourri or a perfume sachet. Lavender is a great ground cover herb, and gives a garden a lovely smell to complement the beautiful pinkish-purple flowers. They do not require fertilization or pruning and are mostly bug resistant.

lavender
Lavender

You’ll find that most herbs do just fine in most types of conditions, because they are mant to be hardy and flexible from the start. The soil in which they grow should be a mixture of sandy loam and clay to obtain the optimal soil moisture level. The added bonus of growing herbs is of course, that you can harvest them and use their leaves or flowers to make great homemade perfume, cooking seasoning, or even for medicinal use.

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