A patio herb garden makes a great small space garden and serves a double purpose of producing herbs for cooking or for crafting purposes.

photo credit: jemasmith

Planting an herb garden on your patio isn’t only a practical use of space, but it also adds atmosphere and greenery to your patio.

These simple steps will help to make planting your patio herb garden a breeze.

First choose herbs to plant in your patio herb garden. What herbs do you sue the most? Take a look at your kitchen shelves for help with your selection. Basil, chives, dill, oregano, parsley rosemary, sage and thyme are the most popular herbs and are easy for even a first time gardener to grow. Once you have determined the herbs you would like to grow its time to select pots and containers.

Study your patio, them choose different sizes and shapes of containers to give your patio herb garden a unique and fun look. You may want to go with a rustic look, match containers to go with your landscape or make a garden that would appeal to children. With containers the atmosphere you can create is unlimited.

Make sure that your containers have holes in the bottom for good drainage, and then fill the bottoms with small rocks or gravel.

Next fill your containers with composted soil mixed in a 2 to 1 ratio with sand. Leave a 1-inch space at the top of the container. This gives you room to water without running the pot over and creating a mess.

Water the container and allow it to drain before planting your herbs. This step also settles the soil mix. I usually let the containers set overnight.

Next plant your herbs. It’s best to keep oregano, rosemary, mint and thyme in separate containers. They tend to grow large or spread and take over the container. You can grow the other herbs together in large shallow pots or a window box in your herb garden.

Last of all, it’s time to place containers on your patio in a location where they get at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight. Herbs have a variety of different colors and textures and add depth to a small space garden area, like a patio. Add a few edible flowers in your herb garden for more color. Nasturtiums are an edible flower.

Lavender and rosemary are more difficult herbs to grow but you may want to consider growing them. In many areas they are perennial if brought indoors during the winter months.

One other idea you may want to consider when planning your herb garden is making part of the garden into a vertical garden. This would be perfect for a small patio with a corner that gets direct lighting.

This patio garden could be a compact as 3 foot in length if you use vertical growing methods or a few hanging baskets.  It could also be a growing wall or barrier to create more privacy on the patio.

Herbs are easy to grow and have so many uses. You will be surprised how much this small garden will add to your home and patio space.

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