Beginner's Guide to Growing Herbs in Pots on a UK Balcony

There is a particular pleasure in stepping onto a small balcony with a pair of scissors and coming back with a handful of parsley. You do not need a garden, a greenhouse or much space — a few pots, a wall that catches the sun and a few minutes of attention each week will do it. What follows is what genuinely works on a British balcony, from choosing herbs that will not sulk to keeping them going through wind, rain and a dry July.

Why pots suit a UK balcony

Balconies are odd growing spaces and it pays to respect their quirks. They are often sunnier than a garden because nothing casts shade over them, but they are also windier, drier and more exposed than a border at ground level.

Pots turn those problems into advantages. You can shift a pot into the sun in March and into the shade during a hot spell. You choose the compost, so you are not stuck with heavy clay or a waterlogged corner. If a plant fails, you lose a pot of compost rather than six months of digging. The one thing containers demand is regular watering, which is where most beginners come unstuck.

Start with herbs that forgive beginners

Skip the fussy ones for now. These cope with a British balcony, a bit of neglect and the occasional forgotten watering.

• Mint — vigorous to the point of rude. Always grow it in its own pot; it spreads by underground runners and will swamp anything beside it.
• Chives — content in partial shade, useful for months and back year after year.
• Flat-leaf parsley — slow to germinate, so buy a small plant. Cut the outer stems and it keeps producing.
• Thyme — wants sun and sharp drainage, then asks for almost nothing.
• Rosemary — a woody shrub rather than a soft herb, so give it a decent-sized pot.
• Basil — the one that needs cossetting. It dislikes cold, drought and cramped roots, so keep it warm and buy plants rather than seed.
• Coriander — fast and rewarding, but it bolts in heat. Sow a few seeds every three weeks instead of one big crop.

Sage and oregano are tough, useful alternatives. French tarragon is delicious but wants a sheltered, sunny spot and more patience.

Pots, compost and drainage

Aim for containers at least 20cm across for soft herbs, and 30cm or more for rosemary, mint and parsley. Terracotta looks lovely and dries out quickly; glazed or plastic pots hold moisture for longer and are lighter if your balcony has weight limits to consider. Stand everything on pot feet or a couple of tiles so surplus water escapes freely, particularly over winter.

Use a peat-free multipurpose compost. For thyme, rosemary, sage and oregano, mix in a couple of handfuls of horticultural grit or perlite per pot so it drains sharply. Never fill a pot with garden soil: it sets like concrete, drains badly and brings in weeds and pests.

Planting up, step by step

1. Water the plant in its nursery pot an hour beforehand — damp roots settle better.
2. Put a few centimetres of compost in the bottom of your pot and firm it lightly.
3. Slide the plant out and gently tease apart any tightly coiled roots.
4. Set it so the top of the root ball sits about 2cm below the rim, leaving room to water without spilling.
5. Fill around it with compost, pressing down with your knuckles to close air pockets. Do not bury the stems.
6. Water thoroughly until it runs out of the bottom, then let the pot drain before returning it to its saucer.

Care through the seasons

Watering

Check the compost with your finger before reaching for the can. If the top couple of centimetres are dry, water. In summer a small pot may need water once or twice a day; in winter, once a fortnight can be plenty. Saucers catch runoff but do not leave pots standing in water, as the roots will rot. Wind dries compost faster than sun does, so an exposed balcony needs more attention than a sheltered one.

Feeding

Herbs are not hungry plants, and too much feed gives you lush leaves with little flavour. A weak dose of liquid seaweed or general-purpose feed every fortnight through the growing season is ample for basil and parsley. Thyme, rosemary and oregano need almost nothing.

Wind, cold and pests

Wind is the biggest killer on a UK balcony, snapping stems and drying pots out within hours. Group pots together for mutual shelter and move tall plants against a wall. Bring basil indoors before night temperatures drop below about 10°C. Most other herbs cope outside until a hard frost, though rosemary and thyme dislike winter wet more than cold — keep them on feet and out of driving rain.

Greenfly cluster on soft new growth; a strong jet of water or a wipe with your fingers usually deals with them. Red spider mite appears in hot, dry corners, leaving fine webbing under the leaves. Slugs will find balcony pots, and a quick evening check with a torch does more than any remedy.

Harvesting so plants keep producing

Cut from the top, just above a pair of leaves, which encourages branching rather than one tall stem. Never take more than a third of a plant at once. Basil and mint benefit from regular pinching, and you should remove flower buds as soon as they appear — once a herb flowers, the leaves turn bitter and growth slows.

Chives can be cut back to about 5cm and will regrow. Pick parsley and coriander from the outside stems, leaving the centre to carry on. If you cook with a lot of one herb, grow two pots and alternate rather than stripping a single plant bare.

A simple first-season plan

Start small. Three pots is a realistic beginning: one mint, one soft herb such as parsley, and one woody herb such as thyme or rosemary. Buying young plants rather than seed in your first year means a harvest weeks sooner and a clearer idea of what healthy growth looks like.

Put them outside in late spring once the risk of frost has passed, keep them near the kitchen door so you actually use them, and water when the compost is dry. By midsummer you should be cutting something most days. If a plant dies, work out which of the three essentials it lacked — light, water or drainage — and try again. Herbs are forgiving, and a balcony is a perfectly good place to learn.

Photo: ViktoriyaPavlova / Pixabay