Amal Nagm

How To Plant A Herb Pot

You needn't have a huge herb garden to yield a variety of interesting flavours from your plants. A simple herb pot can provide you with lots of exciting plants to spice up your cooking

Preparing the pot
Make sure that your pot has holes in the bottom for good drainage. Take your gravel or grit, and pour this into the container to about a quarter of the pots depth. This will help water drain out from the bottom of the soil. Once the gravel is in place, start to fill with a multi purpose, or soil based compost. This should fill approximately three quarters of the pots remaining depth.

Planting
Start to place your plants into the pot, with about 15cm between each stem. Squeeze them gently from their pots, and tease the roots from the root ball to encourage them to search out. Place the taller plants in the centre of the display, and the trailing ones near the edge to ensure the best growth. The display may look messy at first, but do not worry, as this will start to fill out and look lush within a few weeks.

Filling in
Once you are happy with the positions, start to fill the gaps between the plants with compost. Firm this in to the gaps by pushing your fingers deep into the soil you have just added, being careful not to damage any roots. Add more if necessary. Leave a couple of centemetres between the pots rim and the soil, so it does not overflow when watered.

Topping
Cut the tops off of the taller plants, roughly halfing them in height. This will encourage them to bush out and provide more leaves to pick.

Fertilise
Take a controlled release fertilser such as Osmocoate, and push 3 - 5 into the soil, depending on your pot size. Simply push them deep in with your finger and then re-cover. These should last a whole season, meaning you needn't feed the pot again

Water
Water thoroughly, until it starts to drain out of the bottom of the pot. The compost needs to absorb a lot on first watering, so expect to apply four litres or so. Continue to water over the coming months every few days or when the soil seems dry.