Essential Indoor Herb Garden Tools & Supplies

The great thing about indoor herb gardens is that they are small and easy to work with. Of course, you still might not want to get dirt under your fingernails so it is a good idea to buy some tools to help maintain your plants. Although your herb garden is small, it is still a garden and you may have to perform certain messy tasks.

Tools make everything easier from potting to harvesting your herbs. Here is a list of the most popular, and handy tools:

• Fork – A mini fork is useful for digging up plants for transplanting without damaging the roots too much.
• Trowel – A trowel is a small hand spade which is probably the handiest potting tool you can use. It makes it easy to place soil into your pots as well as dig plants out of tubs.
• Secateurs – Small secateurs can be used for pruning jobs if your herbs get too tall and leggy, and also harvesting so you don’t have to use your good scissors.
• Misting sprayer – Air conditioning is very drying and takes all the moisture out of the air that plants need. A mister can be used to spray your herbs every day and keep them healthy.

Here are a few extra tools that you might find convenient:

• PH meter – If you are doing a lot of potting, these meters can tell you if the soil is the right PH to keep your herbs healthy.
• Moisture meter – Most potted herbs die of too much or too little water. These meters are cheap to buy and quickly tell you how moist your soil is just by poking the spike into the dirt.
• Water spikes – These are hollow spikes made of porous terra cotta which you fill with water. The water slowly seeps through them out into the soil and waters your plants. These are good for all pot and tubs, and are especially handy for when you go on vacation.

And a couple you may not think of:

• Pencil – Use a pencil when you are potting to push soil around your plants roots and fill in the air spaces
• Fingers – Your fingers are probably the most sensitive moisture tester you have. Poke a finger into the soil about an inch or so and if the soil feels moist you know you don’t have to water for the next couple of days.
• Watering mat – If you are going on vacation, placing your pots on a watering mat on a tray will keep them watered for a couple of weeks. The mat is made of material that soaks up water and it seeps into the bottom of the pots as your plants use it up.