If your garden is confined to a deck, you can still grow herbs. In fact, putting potted herbs close to your kitchen makes incorporating fresh herbs into your cooking a breeze. Running to the deck for a few snips of chives and parsley can make your whipped potatoes extra-special.
You'll need different sized pots for the various herbs.
- Small growing herbs--thyme, oregano, cilantro and marjoram--grow well in 6-inch -diameter pots.
- Chives, parsley, basil and mint grow a little larger and need an 8-inch pot.
- Large-growing herbs like rosemary, sage and lavender need plenty of room to grow --a 10- or 12-inch pot.
Use a loose, well-drained potting soil. Soak the pots in water for an hour before planting to prevent the pot from absorbing water that the transplants need. To keep soil from washing out of the hole in the bottom of the pot, put a piece of coffee filter over the drainage hole.
Arrange your planted pots to your liking and add some potted annuals for color and variation. To give height to the grouping, invert some empty pots and put some of the smaller herb pots on top of them. Be sure to find a sunny location for your potted herb garden and water everything well.
You can overwinter the perennial herbs in their pots as long as you protect them from extreme cold.
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