DIY Mini herb garden Part 2 🌱

Moving Your Indoor Herb Garden Outside
By: Holly Borton @growingwithholly

In March I talked about how you can create your very own indoor herb garden for you to enjoy before the summer season begins. Now, I'm going to talk to you about moving those indoor plants outside so they can continue to grow and thrive!

The first step to moving your herbs outside is to get them hardened off. Hardening off is a process where you're prepping your indoor plants to be acclimated to the sun and outdoor elements. You'll start this process slowly - starting in the shade, and slowly increasing the time spent in full sun by 2 hour increments each day, until they've successfully spent an entire day and some nights outside. Once about 5-7 days have past and your plants are looking ready - you can move them into your new outdoor herb area.

Before I start digging everything in, I like to place all the herbs (while still inside of their pots) on top of the soil to determine their layout. This gives me the opportunity to make any changes before anything becomes permanent.

Once your layout has been decided, you can begin to dig your hole and gently work the plant out of its pot. I find if I tip the pot upside down in your hands and squeeze a bit, it helps pop it right out with little to no damage to your roots.

Place your herb into the soil, with the bottom stems of your plant slightly covered. Any new growth will grow through that. Press the soil around the base of your plant and make sure it's firmly set into place. Repeat this process until all of your herbs are in their new home, and give them a good drink of water. 

It won't be long till your plants will show signs of new growth and you'll be enjoying them in your cooking in no time! Also be sure to keep on top of pinching / pruning your herbs. This will promote more new growth, and prevent them from going to flower and seed. At that point, your plant will stop producing and become bitter.

Hope you enjoy all of your hard work you started this spring all through this summer and into the fall! Depending on your choices of herb, some of these will return in the spring next year!

Thanks Holly for all these amazing tips! You can find Part 1 here. Can't wait to plant mine outside now.  You can follow Holly for more fantastic tips & DIY's like these @growingwithholly.