How to Grow Herbs Indoors | At Home With P. Allen Smith
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Transcript:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lk5FxgXjro 5lk5FxgXjro
I know what you're thinking: These herbs go in the garden. Uh uh, I'm taking them in the
house. I received a comment from one of my eHow Home subscribers -- it's all about herbs.
This guy's interested in continuing gardening, but he's moving into an apartment. His name
is Justin Givanno, and he's really interested in taking some herbs along with him -- I think
it's a great idea. You know, they can look wonderful in a kitchen, but, you know, the
key is light. The varieties that I find that work well for me include parsley, various
kinds of mint, rosemary, as well as chives and thyme. Those that really love a lot of
sun, like basil, not so good. But keeping with this idea of light, what you wanna do
is you wanna make sure that the herbs get at least 6 hours of sunlight, and the closer
to a window the better. This window faces east, so they get plenty of morning light.
And this window has proven to be a good place for me to move some of my herbs. And even
though I might have them here more in the center of the room, I can rotate them and
get them in more light about every three or four days. Also, if you have a balcony or
fire escape associated with your apartment, you can move them into more light and then
bring them back into the kitchen. Okay, now let's talk about feeding. I like to use an
all purpose liquid fertilizer. And since I'm eating these herbs or using these herbs to
flavor my food, I wanna use an organic. I fertilizer them about every two weeks with
a dilute solution -- you don't wanna over fertilizer herbs, because you want them to
really create a lot of those essential oils. That's what gives them their flavor. Okay,
so, Justin, if you're starting with small plants, let's step out to the potting shed,
and I'll show you how to pot one up. So what you wanna start with is a soil that is blended
for container gardening. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna fill this up in a container,
just a terra cotta container. You can use anything you want. I like the terra cotta
-- it's simple and classic. But if you're gonna set this in a window sill, just remember,
that clay saucer is going to absorb a lot of moisture and it will actually make the
paint peel. So you might wanna use a clear saucer, so you can get that transference of
moisture through there. Then the herb of your choice. And then what I do is just take that
lip of peat moss --the peat cup or the peat pot-- take that off like this. And then I
break up the peat moss cup, just a little bit like this. And then I find a home for
it and just snuggle it in. You wanna make sure that none of that peat pot edge sticks
up like this, because through a wicking effect, air blowing over this, it'll cause the herb
to dry. Now it's all planted -- it's as easy as that. Justin Givanno, good luck with your
new apartment, and I hope grow lots of herbs in it. So if you have a comment, like Justin
had, let me know. I'll do my best to answer it and help you out. And make sure you subscribe
to eHow Home. Okay, you ready to go in the kitchen?
I know what you're thinking: These herbs go in the garden. Uh uh, I'm taking them in the
house. I received a comment from one of my eHow Home subscribers -- it's all about herbs.
This guy's interested in continuing gardening, but he's moving into an apartment. His name
is Justin Givanno, and he's really interested in taking some herbs along with him -- I think
it's a great idea. You know, they can look wonderful in a kitchen, but, you know, the
key is light. The varieties that I find that work well for me include parsley, various
kinds of mint, rosemary, as well as chives and thyme. Those that really love a lot of
sun, like basil, not so good. But keeping with this idea of light, what you wanna do
is you wanna make sure that the herbs get at least 6 hours of sunlight, and the closer
to a window the better. This window faces east, so they get plenty of morning light.
And this window has proven to be a good place for me to move some of my herbs. And even
though I might have them here more in the center of the room, I can rotate them and
get them in more light about every three or four days. Also, if you have a balcony or
fire escape associated with your apartment, you can move them into more light and then
bring them back into the kitchen. Okay, now let's talk about feeding. I like to use an
all purpose liquid fertilizer. And since I'm eating these herbs or using these herbs to
flavor my food, I wanna use an organic. I fertilizer them about every two weeks with
a dilute solution -- you don't wanna over fertilizer herbs, because you want them to
really create a lot of those essential oils. That's what gives them their flavor. Okay,
so, Justin, if you're starting with small plants, let's step out to the potting shed,
and I'll show you how to pot one up. So what you wanna start with is a soil that is blended
for container gardening. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna fill this up in a container,
just a terra cotta container. You can use anything you want. I like the terra cotta
-- it's simple and classic. But if you're gonna set this in a window sill, just remember,
that clay saucer is going to absorb a lot of moisture and it will actually make the
paint peel. So you might wanna use a clear saucer, so you can get that transference of
moisture through there. Then the herb of your choice. And then what I do is just take that
lip of peat moss --the peat cup or the peat pot-- take that off like this. And then I
break up the peat moss cup, just a little bit like this. And then I find a home for
it and just snuggle it in. You wanna make sure that none of that peat pot edge sticks
up like this, because through a wicking effect, air blowing over this, it'll cause the herb
to dry. Now it's all planted -- it's as easy as that. Justin Givanno, good luck with your
new apartment, and I hope grow lots of herbs in it. So if you have a comment, like Justin
had, let me know. I'll do my best to answer it and help you out. And make sure you subscribe
to eHow Home. Okay, you ready to go in the kitchen?