Want To Start a Herb Garden? This TikToker’s Step-By-Step Method Might Be The Simplest One Yet

In ancient times, doctors relied on herbs to cure challenging ailments. Herbs are not just plants. They’re magical potions revered by medical experts as potential cures for some common illnesses. Basil, rosemary, brahmi, licorice, gooseberry, blue hyssop, lavender – each herb locks within it a unique story and a mesmerizing aroma. Gardeners like Anna (@annashieldss) employ modern-day tools to create their private little herb gardens and experience their benefits inside the comfort of their homes.

How to start a herb garden?

In this TikTok video, the gardener demonstrated the process and the “actual trick” to setting up a little herb garden indoors, breaking it down step by step. “If you've been wanting to start an herb garden, but feel totally overwhelmed, this is exactly how I made it simple,” she told the viewers. She referred to a video by @gardenary, whose video inspired her to start the herb garden. Gardenary’s method, she explained, “blends equal parts soil, sand, and compost as the base.”

Anna started the process with a raised garden bed that resembled a wooden crate with legs or a table with a hollow top. She unfolded a large black cloth and splattered it across the innards of the garden bed. In a comment, she revealed that this black cloth is the “liner that the bed came with because the bottom has large holes! This way, when I water, the soil stays in.” Then came the turn to add the ingredients that would ensure that the baby herbs thrive.

Anna poured a packet of the potting mix into the bed and evened it out with her hands. Next, she brought in a large bag of coarse sand and spilled it generously above the layer of potting mix. Then came a bag of Texas Native organic compost. She dumped the fine black dressing on the top and amalgamated the resulting mulch. Using her palms, she gently brushed the layer to uniform topsoil.

“Next, you're gonna pick up more herbs than you think you can fit. It looks prettier, but it actually helps them grow better and maximizes what you get out of a small garden,” Anna explained to the viewers. She flashed several cute plant pots containing tiny herb saplings, which she de-potted one by one and embedded into the gardening mix created in the previous step. Some herbs, such as green onions, were planted in glass containers.

Advantages of using this method

Anna claimed that using this trio of ingredients is a brilliant idea to make your herbs thrive. “Doing this, you're gonna get such better results than if you just use the potting soil alone,” she said. “When you're planting, woody stems go on the outer edges of the planter, and water-loving herbs like parsley and basil go in the center, where it stays moist.”

Best place to shop for herbs

“I always buy my herbs from the grocery store. I think that there's so much more affordable there, and they always seem so healthy and full,” Anna revealed. In a comment, she advised people not to include mint when purchasing herbs for their herb garden. Oregano is okay, she added.

An important tool

After planting the herbs, Anna picked up a green GROWIT Soil Moisture Sensor that featured a scale from 1 to 12 provided to indicate whether the plants needed water or not, and how much. “As a mom, I cannot be responsible for keeping one more thing alive. That's where this little tool comes in,” she exclaimed. She dug the device into the soil and watered all the plants that the sensor showed were dehydrated. 

You can follow Anna (@annashieldss) on TikTok for lifestyle content.