Crop guide · Herbs
How to grow herbs in containers: the 8 that earn their pot
Basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, parsley, chives, cilantro and oregano — pot sizes, the ones that hate sharing, and windowsill reality.
- Container
- 1–3 gal
- Mint alone. Everything else can share
- Sun
- 4–6 hours
- Mediterranean herbs want the sunniest corner
- Water
- Let them dry
- Rosemary and thyme die wet, not thirsty
Herbs are the highest return per square foot on a balcony, and the one crop where a supermarket pot is a genuinely bad deal — a $4 living basil is a dozen seedlings crammed into a plug, sold to die on your counter within two weeks. Split it into three pots the day you get it home and you have three plants that last the summer.
Group them by how much water they want, not by how they taste together. Rosemary, thyme, oregano and sage come from dry hillsides and will happily share one 3-gallon pot that you underwater; basil, parsley, cilantro and chives want steady moisture and belong in another. Mint goes in its own pot, always — put it in a shared container and in six weeks it is the only thing left.
Full write-up coming: pot size per herb, harvesting so basil doesn't bolt in July, and an honest verdict on windowsill herbs in winter.
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About the author
Carsten
I grow food on a 4×6 balcony and write down what works. Not a master gardener, not sponsored. When a guide is wrong I fix it and note the date at the top. Questions, corrections and photos of your pots are welcome. say hello.