If a herb garden completes the kitchen, stale monotony in hot and cold dishes is a thing of the past. Juicy chives, crunchy basil leaves and freshly harvested parsley from our own cultivation trump as a treat for the palate beyond withered, lame herbs from the discounter. This guide is packed with ideas, tips & tricks on how to create an enviably beautiful herb garden for the kitchen.

Herbs in the kitchen are always at hand when cooking

Table of Contents

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  1. the essentials in brief
  2. ideas and examples
  3. Kitchen wall as cultivation area
  4. Herb garden with lighting
  5. planting ideas
  6. frequently asked Questions

    7. the essentials in brief

    • Herbs in the kitchen can be grown in a tin, in a mini greenhouse, in a gutter or even vertically
    • Herbs do well indoors as long as they get enough light

    Herb garden for the kitchen - ideas collection

    An indoor herb garden goes far beyond practical use. Creative home gardeners don't miss the opportunity to imaginatively present their home-grown treasures of herbs. Do-it-yourselfers screw, hammer and saw to their heart's content to create a DIY kitchen garden. Herb lovers with two left thumbs buy a stylish design variant. The following overview would like to inspire you with ideas and examples, so that your new herb garden in the kitchen does not have to eke out a Cinderella existence:

    DIY idea Buy shopping sources
    plant box build from pallets mini greenhouse Garden centers, Amazon, Ebay
    shelf from wooden boards herb stairs Ikea, Obi, Dehner etc.
    food cans paint, glue Wall garden made of plant bags Amazon, Ebay, Baldur, garden shops
    gutter convert to planter Flower box (€16.99) with trellis Hardware store, garden center, online shops
    vertical herb garden Wall grid with pots/baskets herb tower Amazon, Bakker, Dehner, Proidee

    Herbs can be planted in very different containers

    Before you buy new, ready-to-use planters for kitchen herbs, take a look around the house with your eyes wide open. Disused household items that are suitable for a second life as a miniature herb garden are slumbering in the basement or in the attic. Antique wash bowls, rustic wooden tubs or old mason jars showcase your favorite herbs in a trendy vintage style. The pockets of grandmother's kitchen apron act as cheeky planting pockets for dwarf thyme, mini sage, parsley and co. A discarded stepladder is useful as a decorative herb ladder.

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    Pioneering indoor herb garden from Bosch

    Under the heading 'SmartGrow', Bosch is setting new standards for the indoor cultivation of herbs. Designed as a hydroponic planter, the innovation lets your herbs thrive even when you're on vacation. The herb garden in mini format comes with space for six seed pods. You are spoiled for choice among more than 50 types of herbs that germinate and thrive without soil. A patented light and watering system takes care of maintenance. (32.95€) So much carefree luxury has its price, because the forward-looking herb garden for the kitchen costs a whopping 249 euros. Other well-known manufacturers offer modern cultivation systems for aromatic herbs in the kitchen. These include the chic Click&Grow herb garden set from Emsa (from 99.90 euros) or a modern GrowIt-Flex-Smart Indoor Garden from Klarstein (from 68 euros).

    Using the kitchen wall as a growing area - tips & tricks

    Herbs can also be hung

    An active radiator under the windowsill is pure poison for a herb garden. In combination with direct sunlight, short-term temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius occur and make the plants languish. You can turn off the heat and freeze in your kitchen, or use a wall as a growing area. We have put together a colorful array of creative options for a vertical herb garden in the kitchen for you below:

    • edible wall: Buy a carpet with plant pockets made of breathable material or sew it yourself
    • wall shelf: Screw wooden boards on top of each other and fill with herb pots
    • hanging garden: Plant hanging baskets with herbs, hang them on hooks or ceiling rails in several levels
    • upcycled version: cut open the side of old PET bottles, plant with herbs, attach to the wall

    Are you in the mood for a spectacular vertical herb garden for the kitchen? Then consider the original Green Wall. It is a wall construction made of a frame with a wooden panel that is covered with pond liner and plant fleece. A receptacle is placed on the floor to catch runoff irrigation water. In the luxury version, a pump system supplements the wall garden for automatic watering. The Flower Company in Innsbruck created the magnificent vertical garden in their business premises using the DIY method and documented the work step by step. Herbs, succulents and flowering plants with edible flowers are equally suitable for planting.

    tips

    Basil from the supermarket is the first to wilt when home gardeners plant an herb garden for the kitchen. When growing, the young plants are crammed into much too narrow pots with unsuitable substrate, carelessly cared for on the store shelves at unfriendly, cool temperatures. Premium herbs will last longer indoors if you timely divide the root ball and expertly repot each section into nutrient-rich, organic substrate.

    Let there be light - herb garden with lighting

    Herbs need a lot of light

    The secret to the success of juicy green herbs from the kitchen garden is additional light. If sage, chives or dill fade and die indoors after a short time, the herbal treasures usually suffer from a lack of light. Since life-giving daylight is scarce in winter, even plants on the south-facing windowsill fall victim to the dilemma. Thanks to resourceful inventors, we have ingenious planters with built-in lighting for the perfect indoor herb farm with guaranteed growth. The following product selection gives an insight into the multifaceted offer for every budget:

    • Mini herb garden for the windowsill with LED lighting from Romberg from 34.99 euros
    • narrow, white shelf for 3 herb pots and 14 watt lighting from Shada from 42.90 euros
    • small herb garden with height-adjustable plant lamp for 3 purchased herb pots from Proventa from 54.90 euros
    • mobile plant lamp for attaching to boxes, pots and windowsills from Lediary from 9.38 euros

    With a little imagination and manual skills, you can make an illuminated mini herb garden for the kitchen yourself. You can conjure up a productive herb garden for the kitchen from a conventional shelf by simply mounting the lighting underneath the next higher shelf. Simply hang the lighting for plant boxes and pots on the window sill on the curtain rod. It is important to note an adequate distance between the light source and herbal plants of 20 to 30 centimeters. Please buy special LED plant lamps that generate little waste heat. This saves on electricity bills, guarantees an ideal beam angle and does not allow local temperatures to skyrocket.

    Planting ideas for boxes and traffic lights

    A plant box is easy to build yourself

    Which herbs you grow in the kitchen garden depends on your personal taste and the space available. Almost all types of herbs arrange themselves with a life behind glass if the general conditions are right. The following table names proven types of herbs for carefree cultivation in boxes and tubs on the windowsill or hanging in the traffic light:

    stand upright botanical name hanging/trailing botanical name
    cress Lepidium sativum Lemon Thyme Thymus herba-barona v. citriodorus
    chives Allium schoenoprasum stream exercise Veronica beccabunga
    Parsely Petroselinum crispum Nasturtium Tropaeolum minus
    Thai basil Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflorum Creeping parsley Apium repens
    dill Anethum graveolens ice cream Mesembryanthemum crystallinum
    oregano Origanum heracleoticum glacier lute Artemisiaglacialis
    Dwarf Sage Salvia officinalis 'Nana' Lavender Thyme Thymus thracicus
    Dwarf Thyme Thymus vulgaris 'Compactus' Caribbean mint Micromeria brownei

    Your favorites for the herb garden in the kitchen won't let you down if you grow the plants yourself from seed. Pre-cultivated herbs from garden centers, hardware stores or supermarkets are often pre-stressed due to improper care, poor lighting conditions and temperatures that are too low. You can avoid this shortcoming by buying certified seed, sowing it from the end of February and caring for it with a loving hand.

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    frequently asked Questions

    Which herbs have the best chance of surviving the winter on the kitchen window?

    A lack of light in winter and dry heating air pushes most herbs to their limits. Numerous classics, such as basil, dill or chives are usually left behind. Shade-tolerant survivors such as Vietnamese coriander (Polygonum odoratum) and Jamaican thyme (Coleus amboinicus) promise good prospects for a winter herb harvest. You don't have to do without homemade garlic butter even in winter, when evergreen room garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) adorns the herb garden in the kitchen.

    Is there a herb spiral that is small enough to buy for the kitchen?

    The dream of a herb spiral for the kitchen is within reach if you accept a few modifications. As a traditional spiral with wood, metal or natural stone as a border, the herb spiral is not suitable for the kitchen. Specialist retailers have attractive solutions for a kitchen-friendly herb garden, such as a Plantpak herb pot with 3 tiers. A decorative alternative to the herb spiral for a large kitchen is the Waldbeck Herbie herb garden made of PP hollow chamber panels with 8 lateral planting shafts for your favorite herbs.

    I would like to create my herb garden in the kitchen in individual pots on the windowsill. Which pot size do you recommend?

    To start, we recommend pots with a diameter of at least 12 centimeters. A little bigger if you like. If a herb plant has completely rooted through the container after a while, repot into a pot with a volume of 2 to 4 liters, depending on the type and variety.

    tips

    Clever home gardeners simply let herbs in the kitchen decide for themselves when and how much water they need. Create the herb garden on the windowsill in a box or pot with self-watering. There are small hydro-pads between a water reservoir in the bottom of the vessel and the herbal plants. A pad absorbs water and offers it to the herbs, which only use the supply when they actually need it. A complete set including water level indicator and space for 3 herbs is available for less than 10 euros.

Category:

Herbs