Friday, February 27, 2009

Who says you can't have a herbs garden in your apartment?


Just taking a coffee break and resting my back after spending the whole morning tending the herbs garden in the backyard. It has been much neglected lately. We have been away for a month, and during our absence,the temperature had soared to record high and followed by the lashing of continuous rain were not doing any good to a herbs garden.





I managed to salvage some Vietnamese mints (Laksa leaves) that have survived the summer heat under shade of the Mulberry bush. I am now trying to propagate them by standing the cuttings in a glass of water and waiting for the new root to grow before replanting them in the soil.
You can have your own herbs garden even if you are living in an apartment. Fresh herbs can be quite easily be grown in pots or boxes on a sunny balcony or window sill in the kitchen. Simply, collect two white polystyrene boxes from your local green grocer . Buy a bag of potting mix from the supermarket or local nursery. Make a couple of small holes at the bottoms for drainage. Divide the potting mix equally amongst the two boxes. Sow or plant your favourite seedlings. Hey! you have already created an instant herbs garden. You can even maintain a ready supply of herbs by growing in these polythene boxes in the balcony. You can rest assure that home grown herbs have flavour rarely matched by those brought from the supermarkets.


Many of us are living in apartments, units and in the inner city, where garden space is rare, can still have the satisfaction of growing their own herbs or vegetables. As long as there is a balcony or open space which recieves four to five hours of sunlight then who says you can't have a herbs garden in your apartment?

6 comments:

  1. I want to grow pandan leaves.. where to find??

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  2. Hi BY,
    Unfortunately, you can only buy the leaves and not the whole plant with the roots.So it makes propagation next to impossible.

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  3. haha..i m using pandan essence or frozen pandan leaves. let me know if you get fresh pandan..i will be interested too!

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  4. Hi Danny,
    You can easily get fresh pandan leaves at the asian grocery stores (kek ai tiams) in Sydney.Especially in suburbs where is a large Asian communtiy. Try Parramatta, Cabramatta, Strathfield and the Thai kek ai tiam in Chinatown. When are you heading this way? Maybe we could organise to bring you to the Sydney Market on the weekends to buy your supply.

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  5. call me!! i also want to go !!!

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  6. Thanks for the tips! I go to Syd quite often...will check it out at Chinatown!

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