How to grow herbs in containers: the 8 that earn their pot

Why herbs are the best value in a pot

A supermarket packet of cut herbs costs a few dollars and lasts a week. A thyme plant costs about the same, lives for years, and gives you sprigs whenever you want them. Herbs are compact, most are happy in a small container, several are perennial, and they sit by the kitchen door where you will use them. Even a single windowsill box of three or four herbs changes how you cook.

The two watering groups

The single most useful thing to know about herbs is that they fall into two groups, and most problems come from mixing them.

The dry group: rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, lavender. These are Mediterranean plants from thin, stony soil. They want full sun, a gritty, free-draining mix, and to dry out between waterings. Kept damp, they rot at the roots and die from the base up. They can share a pot happily, and a 3-gallon container holds three of them.

The moist group: basil, parsley, cilantro, chives, dill, mint. These want consistently moist mix and tolerate a little less sun. They wilt fast when dry and recover fast when watered. They can share a pot too, with one exception.

Mint is the exception. It spreads by runners under the surface and within a season it is the only thing left in a shared container. Give it a pot of its own, and it will be one of the most productive things you grow.

The eight herbs

Basil

The most rewarding and the most tender. Basil wants warmth, six hours of sun, and steady water; it collapses at the first cold night, so plant out after the last frost. One plant per 2-gallon pot, or three in a 5-gallon. Pinch the growing tips from the start and keep pinching: every time you take the top pair of leaves, the plant branches and gets bushier. Remove flower spikes as soon as they appear, because a basil that flowers stops producing leaves and the flavor drops. Genovese is the classic; Greek or Spicy Globe basil is a compact ball that suits a small pot. A supermarket basil plant is a dozen seedlings crammed together; split it into three pots the day you get it home and all three will last the summer.

Thyme

Hardy, perennial, and almost impossible to overwater-proof, so keep it dry. A 1-gallon pot is plenty. Full sun, gritty mix, water only when the pot is light. Trim it back by a third after flowering to stop it going woody. English thyme for cooking, lemon thyme for fish and chicken. A plant lasts four or five years in a pot.

Rosemary

A woody shrub that becomes a small bush in a 3-gallon pot. Full sun, the driest corner, water sparingly, and never let it sit in a saucer. In cold regions bring it into a cool, bright porch for winter, since wet winter mix kills more rosemary than frost does. Tuscan Blue is upright and good for cooking; prostrate types trail over the edge of a pot. Harvest sprigs from the tips and it will keep branching.

Mint

Vigorous, easy, happy in part shade, and the reason the "own pot" rule exists. A 3-gallon pot, moist mix, four hours of sun. Cut it hard whenever it starts to look leggy and it regrows in two weeks. Spearmint is the one for tea and cooking; peppermint is stronger. Every two or three years, tip it out, cut the root mass into quarters, and repot one piece in fresh mix.

Parsley

A biennial grown as an annual, slow from seed and quick from a young plant. A 2-gallon pot, moist mix, four to six hours of sun. Flat-leaf has more flavor than curly. Pick the outer stems at the base and leave the center to keep producing; a plant picked this way crops from spring to the first hard frost and often through a mild winter. It bolts in its second year, so replace it each spring.

Chives

The easiest herb on this list. A 1-gallon pot, part sun, moist mix, and it comes back every spring for years. Cut the leaves an inch above the base with scissors and it regrows in a fortnight. The purple flowers are edible and the bees like them. Divide the clump every three years.

Cilantro

The one that frustrates people, because it bolts the moment the weather warms. Cilantro is a cool-season herb: sow it in early spring and again in late summer, in a 2-gallon pot with moist mix, and pick it young. In summer it goes to seed within weeks no matter what you do, so sow a pinch every three weeks rather than expecting one plant to last. The seeds it produces are coriander, which is a fair consolation. Slow-bolt varieties buy you an extra week or two.

Oregano

Hardy, perennial, and happiest neglected. A 2-gallon pot in full sun, gritty mix, dry between waterings. Greek oregano has far more flavor than the common type; check the label. Cut it back hard in spring and again after flowering. It spreads a little but not like mint, and it shares a pot with thyme and sage without trouble.

Pot sizes at a glance

Mix, feeding and containers

Standard potting mix suits the moist group as it comes. For the dry group, mix in a third of horticultural grit or perlite so water runs through. Terracotta pots, which wick moisture out through their walls, are a good match for rosemary and thyme and a poor one for basil.

Herbs need less feeding than vegetables, and too much nitrogen makes them leafy and bland. A liquid feed at half strength once a month through the growing season is enough for the moist group; the dry group can go without.

Harvesting so the plant keeps going

The rule for almost every herb is to pick from the top and the outside, often, and never take more than a third at once. Pinching tips makes basil, mint and oregano branch. Cutting outer stems at the base keeps parsley and chives producing. Snipping sprig ends keeps rosemary and thyme compact. A herb that is never picked gets leggy, flowers and declines; one that is picked every few days stays in the leafy, productive stage all season.

Herbs on a windowsill

Indoors is harder than people expect. A south-facing windowsill gives enough light for chives, parsley and mint through winter, and for basil in summer. Rosemary and thyme sulk indoors in the low light of winter and usually pick up again outside in spring. A small grow light over the sill changes the picture entirely and keeps basil going all year. Whatever you grow inside, water less than you would outdoors; the pots dry slowly in a cool room.

Common questions