If a herb garden completes the kitchen, stale monotony in hot and cold dishes will be a thing of the past. Juicy chives, crunchy basil leaves and freshly harvested parsley from our own cultivation trump the palate as a treat beyond wilted, lame herbs from the discount store. This guide is full of ideas, tips & tricks on how to create an enviably beautiful herb garden for the kitchen.
How do I create a herb garden in the kitchen?
A herb garden in the kitchen can be created in different shapes such as cans, mini greenhouses or vertical systems. Sufficient light is important, so plant containers with built-in lighting can be ideal. Popular culinary herbs include parsley, basil and chives.
Herb garden for the kitchen – collection of ideas
An indoor herb garden goes far beyond practical use. Creative home gardeners don't miss the opportunity to imaginatively present home-grown herbal treasures. 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 doesn't have to lead a Cinderella existence:
| DIY | Idea | Buy | Shopping Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plant box | build from pallets | Mini greenhouse | Garden Center, Amazon, Ebay |
| Shelf | made of wooden boards | Herbal stairs | Ikea, Obi, Dehner etc. |
| Cans | paint, stick on | Wall garden made of plant bags | Amazon, Ebay, Baldur, garden shops |
| Gutter | Convert into a planter box | Flower box with trellis | Hardware stores, garden centers, 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 culinary herbs, walk through the house with your eyes open. There are old household items lying dormant in the basement or attic that are suitable for a second life as a small-format herb garden. Antique wash bowls, rustic wooden tubs or old mason jars showcase your favorite herbs in a trendy vintage style. The pockets from grandmother's kitchen apron act as cheeky plant pockets for dwarf thyme, mini sage, parsley, etc. A discarded step ladder is useful as a decorative herb staircase.
Excursus
Trend-oriented indoor herb garden from Bosch
Under the heading 'SmartGrow', Bosch (€213.00 at Amazon) is setting new standards for the indoor cultivation of herbs. Designed as a hydroponic plant container, the innovation allows your herbs to thrive even when you are on vacation. The herb garden in mini format comes with space for six seed capsules. You are spoiled for choice from more than 50 types of herbs that germinate and thrive without soil. A patented light and irrigation system takes care of the care. So much carefree luxury has its price, as the pioneering 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).
Use 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 arise and cause the plants to starve. You can turn off the heat and freeze in your kitchen, or you can 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 equip them with herb pots
- Hanging garden: Plant hanging baskets with herbs, hang them on hooks or ceiling rails in several levels
- Upcycling version: cut open the sides of old PET bottles, plant them with herbs, attach them to the wall
Do you want a spectacular vertical herb garden for your kitchen? Then consider the original Green Wall. It is a wall construction made of a frame with a wooden panel, which is covered with pond liner and plant fleece. A collecting container is placed on the floor to catch any water that runs off. In the luxury version, a pump system complements the wall garden for automatic irrigation. The Flowercompany in Innsbruck created the magnificent vertical garden in their business premises using the DIY process and documented the work step by step. Herbs, succulents and flowering plants with edible flowers are equally suitable for planting.
Tip
Basil from the supermarket is the first to wilt when home gardeners create an herb garden for the kitchen. During cultivation, the young plants are crammed into pots that are far too narrow with unsuitable substrate, and are carelessly cared for on store shelves in unfriendly, cool temperatures. The premium herbs last longer indoors if you divide the root ball promptly and repot each section professionally into nutrient-rich, organic substrate.
Let there be light – herb garden with lighting
Herbs need a lot of light
The secret to success for 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 are usually suffering from a lack of light. Since life-giving daylight is in short supply in winter, even plants on the south-facing windowsill fall victim to the dilemma. Thanks to resourceful inventors, we have ingenious plant containers with built-in lighting for the perfect indoor herb farm with guaranteed growth. The following product selection provides an insight into the multifaceted offering 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 a box, pot and windowsill from Lediary from 9.38 euros
With a little imagination and craftsmanship, you can make an illuminated mini herb garden for the kitchen yourself. You can turn a conventional shelf into a productive herb garden for the kitchen by simply mounting the lighting underneath the next higher shelf. Simply hang the lighting for plant boxes and pots on the windowsill on the curtain rod. It is important to note that there is an adequate distance of 20 to 30 centimeters between the light source and the herb plants. Please purchase special LED plant lamps that produce little waste heat. This protects the electricity bill, guarantees an ideal beam angle and does not cause local temperatures to skyrocket.
Planting ideas for boxes and hanging baskets
You can easily build a planter yourself
Which herbs you grow in the kitchen garden depends on your personal taste and space capacity. Almost all types of herbs can cope with life behind glass if the conditions are right. The following table lists tried and tested types of herbs by name for carefree cultivation in boxes and pots on the windowsill or hanging in the hanging basket:
| upright/standing | botanical name | hanging/climbing | botanical name |
|---|---|---|---|
| cress | Lepidium sativum | Lemon Thyme | Thymus herba-barona v. citriodorus |
| Chives | Allium schoenoprasum | Bachbunge | Veronica beccabunga |
| parsley | Petroselinum crispum | Nasturtium | Tropaeolum minus |
| Thai basil | Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflorum | Creeping parsley | Apium repens |
| Dill | Anethum graveolens | Iceweed | Mesembryanthemum crystallinum |
| Oregano | Origanum heracleoticum | Glacier Route | Artemisia glacialis |
| 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 seeds. Ready-made herbs from garden centers, hardware stores or supermarkets are often contaminated by improper care, poor lighting conditions and temperatures that are too low. You can avoid this shortcoming by buying certified seeds, sowing them from the end of February and caring for them with loving hands.
Sieben Kräuter für die Fensterbank - Tipps und Vorschläge
Frequently asked questions
Which herbs have the best chance of surviving the winter on the kitchen window?
Winter lack of light 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 Jamaica thyme (Coleus amboinicus) promise good prospects for a winter herb harvest. You don't have to go without homemade garlic butter even in winter, when evergreen indoor garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) decorates the herb garden in the kitchen.
Is there a herb spiral to buy that is small enough 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 snail is not suitable for the kitchen. Specialist retailers have attractive solutions for a kitchen-friendly herb garden, such as a 3-tier herb pot from Plantpak. 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 side 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 is recommended?
To start, we recommend pots with a diameter of at least 12 centimeters. I would also like it to be a little bigger. If a herb plant has completely rooted through the container after a while, repot it into a pot with a volume of 2 to 4 liters, tailored to the type and variety.
Tip
Smart home gardeners simply let herbs in the kitchen decide for themselves when they need how much water. Plant the herb garden on the windowsill in a self-watering box or pot. 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 are actually needed. A complete set including a water level indicator and space for 3 herbs is available for under 10 euros.
