Daniel Pargeter
A little bit of countryside on your doorstep
You do not need a garden to grow something worth eating. A patio corner, a wide windowsill or a balcony barely longer than a bench will carry half a dozen pots quite happily, and there is a particular pleasure in stepping outside with a pair of scissors while the kettle comes to the boil. This is slow living in miniature: a glance at the compost each morning, a pinch taken here and there, the smell of thyme left on your fingers afterwards. Herbs ask very little of you and give back far more than their size suggests.
Choosing pots and compost that suit the job
Almost any container will do, provided it has drainage holes in the base. Terracotta is lovely and dries out faster; glazed pots hold moisture for longer, which suits mint and chives. As a rough guide, allow at least 15cm (6in) of depth for thyme and chives, and 20–25cm (8–10in) for mint, which is a vigorous thing that resents being cramped. A saucer underneath saves your windowsill, but empty it after heavy rain — herbs dislike standing in water far more than they dislike drying out for a day.
Use a peat-free multipurpose compost rather than soil from the garden, which compacts in a pot and rarely drains well. For Mediterranean herbs such as thyme and rosemary, mix in roughly a third horticultural grit by volume. A few broken crocks or a handful of gravel at the bottom help, and raising pots onto small feet keeps the drainage holes clear and deters slugs.
Three reliable herbs for beginners
If you are starting out, begin with these three. They are forgiving, useful in the kitchen and content in containers.
- Mint — buy a small plant rather than sowing seed, which is slow and uneven. Keep it in its own pot, always: mint spreads by underground runners and will smother anything sharing its space. Water it more freely than the others, keep it in sun or half-shade, and cut it often. It will die back in autumn and return in spring, which is not a failure on your part.
- Thyme — the opposite temperament. Give it full sun, sharp drainage and a light hand with the watering can. Let the compost dry out between drinks; a thyme that stays wet will rot at the crown before you notice anything is wrong. A 15cm pot is ample. Do not feed it much, or you will get leafy growth at the expense of flavour.
- Chives — the easiest of all, and happy in a pot on a kitchen windowsill. Sow seed thinly in spring or split a supermarket pot into three. Keep the compost lightly moist. Snip the leaves down to about 2cm above the surface rather than tugging at them, and remove the pretty purple flowers if you want tender leaves through summer. Divide the clumps every couple of years when they crowd the pot.
Watering, feeding and the slow rhythm of care
Little and often beats a weekly drench. Water in the morning where you can, so that any splash on the leaves dries before evening. In a hot spell, small pots may need attention twice a day; in a wet week, they may need none at all. Push a finger into the compost to the first knuckle — if it is dry at that depth, water; if it clings, wait.
Herbs grown for their leaves benefit from a weak liquid feed every fortnight from spring until late summer. Dilute it to half the strength recommended on the bottle. Overfeeding produces soft, tasteless growth, and for thyme, rosemary and oregano it does more harm than good.
Harvesting little and often
The rule of a third applies: never take more than a third of a plant at once, and it will keep producing for months. Pinch out the growing tips of mint and basil regularly to encourage bushy growth rather than one lonely stem. Use what you cut straight away — herbs lose their scent within hours. A handful of chives stirred through scrambled eggs, or mint torn into new potatoes, is the whole point of the exercise.
Herbs for a shady windowsill or a windy balcony
Not every spot gets six hours of sun, and that is fine. Mint, parsley, chervil and chives all manage in partial shade. Basil needs warmth and light, so a south-facing sill suits it best. On an exposed balcony, choose lower-growing herbs such as thyme and oregano, group pots together for shelter, and weight them down — a gale that tips a pot across the paving is a discouraging sight. Grouping also helps retain moisture and creates a small, humid microclimate that many herbs enjoy.
Start with three pots, keep them near a door you use often, and let the routine settle into your day. A herb garden of this size will not feed you, but it will quietly change how you cook, and how you notice the turning of the seasons.
