Are you ready for spring? I am! I’m getting ready with this fun herb garden and printable herb companion cheat sheet.
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I recently posted about how I wish I had time to grow my own vegetables. While I don’t have the time or space to do that right now, I can manage to grow an herb garden. My lanai is perfect for a container garden like this one. My hope is that by growing my own herbs, I can save just a little bit of money each week at the grocery store. I’m also hoping it will be a fun little bonding experience for me and my favorite helper.
Robert loves to pick out his own herbs and flowers.
I did give him a little direction when it came to picking out herbs. I want to keep my herb garden as simple as possible by pairing similar herbs together. I’ve killed enough plants to know that it’s important to pay attention to water and sunlight needs.
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Since I’m determined to keep these herbs alive, I made sure to pair herbs together that have similar sunlight and water needs. To make it easy for you to do the same, I’ve put together this cute little printable for you to keep with all your gardening supplies.
Print your own copy here: Herb companion cheat sheet
I laminated mine (with this at home laminator) and put it my garage with everything I need to garden. It’s great to have it near all my gardening supplies so I don’t have to get my phone dirty to double check water and sunlight requirements. Sage, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, oregano and lavender can all grow together in full sun and dry soil. Tarragon, cilantro (the one herb of mine that always dies), basil, parsley and chives can all grow together in partial sun and moist soil. I learned from this research that mint is best grown alone because it is a greedy little spreader.
Robert is having fun helping me take care of the herbs so far. I hope this will be a fun lesson in responsibility for both of us. I like to think we will have a good experience watering them and snipping them for recipes. And of course, I’m super pumped to have access to fresh herbs instead of buying them at the grocery store. I hate spending money on herbs!
Next step is to attempt vegetables. Or maybe not! I need to master herb gardening first. Baby steps, right?
Do you have any good container gardening tips?
If you like this post, you will love my post about gardening on a budget. Check it out here. Pin it below:
What a perfect reference guide – thanks for including it! This time of year always gets me excited for planting things, though my black thumb doesn’t usually lead to much growth. Oh well – it’s something to get better at!
This totally put me in the mood for spring!
Oh good! It’s certainly warm enough here for me to think it’s already spring!
Hi Hannah! You really put me in the mood for some herb gardening in my little balcony! I frequently use herbs nowadays and see a positive influence in my well-being. Recently, I wrote a post on a not so well-known herb, dittany of Crete, I think it will be go your interest http://greekality.com/2016/02/29/small-but-mighty-dittany-of-crete/
Keep up the good work!
It looks like you guys had a lot of fun doing this! I love having an herb garden because it’s so much easier to just head out the back door when you need some rosemary or basil. Plus, I love how much money I save…I can buy a starter rosemary plant for what a little pack costs at the grocery store! Our lawn could use a little help too. We might need to look into that Scotts Turf Builder!
What a great cheat sheet. I was just about to get started on my herb balcony garden and this will help a lot. Thanks for sharing. Pinned!
Have a great week :)
Your site is beautiful. We have been herb gardening for years, and my son absolutely loves it also. He enjoys helping clip and water and trim. Great. I have found all of the herbs you had listed do well in most environments with well-drained soil, and even in full sun for all (depending on where you live) as long as you keep the soil moist they do great. We used the large square containers a year we were moving to keep the herbs going and move them to our new place. We have zero shade in our back yard at the moment (needs some trees at different angles,) and the herbs still do very well in the raised beds or containers. They are a staple. I freeze what I can also to enjoy them all year. I would imagine you could move the container inside if you have space also. Lovely post, great ideas. Thanks!
I’m very late to this post but just wanted to let you know that cilantro only grows well from seeds.
I wish I would have seen your post sooner. First, my cilantro always dies, whether from seed or not. I have some herbs growing in my kitchen but my mistake is I planted the basil with the marjoram and the thyme with the chives. I should’ve planted basil with chives and marjoram with thyme.
Thanks for posting.
I’m so glad you found the post! I definitely had to learn this through trial and error too!