The Budget Herbivore: Growing a Mini Herb Garden in Your Dorm Room

Now that healthy and mindful eating is rapidly becoming an international trend, more and more people are striving to cook better, more nutritious food. Students are joining this trend, too.

Recent studies confirm that modern college students are much more health-aware than previous generations. They gladly devote time to cooking diverse and healthy meals instead of grabbing another burger or pizza. Even when they lack time due to a hefty academic load, they are willing to find a trusted do my research paper service just to save time for their health. This is definitely a positive tendency.

If you are also adept at healthy eating, that’s great. But how do you add more flavor to your meals? Growing your own herbs could be the answer. Read on to learn more! 

Top Reasons to Create Your Own Herb Garden in a Dorm

When it comes to healthy eating, herbs are irreplaceable ingredients that can add flavor to your dishes and make healthy meals delicious. We bet that you also buy different herbs for your culinary arts from time to time. But have you ever thought about growing your own mini garden?

Growing herbs in your dorm room has a number of weighty reasons:

• Save money – Dry herbs never taste the same as fresh ones. However, fresh ones can cost quite a lot when you purchase them on a daily basis, not to mention the amount of waste. Growing your own garden can be much more cost-effective.
• Ensure freshness – Getting the freshest goods in your local grocery store can be a real quest. However, when you grow your own herbs, you always get the freshest ingredients for your dishes, and you never run out of stock.
• Save time – When you suddenly realize that you need specific herbs to cook your dinner, running out to the store can take plenty of time and might not always be possible. However, if you create your own garden, you will always have the needed ingredients at hand.
• Taste the difference – Adding the freshest herbs straight out of the garden to your meals will let you get the most flavor.
• Make your room green – Lastly, growing a mini garden in your dorm room is also a great way to add more color and greenery to your space, which will also affect your mood and health, the quality of air, etc.

4 Tips to Start Your Mini Herb Garden in a Dorm

Now that you understand why you should bother with it in the first place let’s move on to practical tips on how you can start growing your own herbs right in a dorm room:

1. Find the Right Spot

When grown indoors, herbs require as much natural daylight as possible. In a dorm with limited space, the best option is to place your pots on a windowsill. For some herbs, you should pick a south-facing window that gets at least 6 hours of light daily. However, some herbs can grow well even in limited-light conditions.

2. Pick a Pot 

Before you start shopping for your herbs, you also need to find the right pot for them. The good news is that it can be pretty much anything, from specialized herb keepers and pots to aluminum cans you have left after consuming your pop, soup, or sauce. Feel free to get creative here.

2. Don’t Forget About Good Drainage

If you let your pots rest on a tabletop or windowsill without drainage, you risk ruining the furniture when excessive water drains on it. You also risk that your herbs’ roots will rot. To prevent this, you need some sort of drainage, like a drain pan, liner, or a simple saucer. 

3. Pick the Herbs You Want to Grow

Once you decide on the right spot and take care of drainage, you can make a list of herbs that you’d like to grow. First and foremost, the selection of plants should get down to your individual preferences — consider what herbs you love and use the most on a daily basis. Also, be sure to consider the conditions each particular herb requires to grow well indoors. For a dorm room garden, you want to pick herbs that aren’t very demanding in terms of maintenance.

Some options to consider include:

• Parsley;
• Oregano;
• Basil;
• Marjoram;
• Lemon balm;
• Rosemary;
• Thyme;
• Sage;
• Chives;
• Mint.

You can also pick other options that work for you.

4. Study Everything About the Selected Herbs

One big advantage of growing herbs over other kinds of plants is that they typically are very easy to maintain. However, they still require decent care to grow well. Thus, after deciding on the list of herbs, take time to study their needs thoroughly. You need to know what kind of soil, watering schedule, and fertilizers they need, as well as how much sunlight they demand. Ideally, delegate your current tasks to the best essay writing service to save time and conduct in-depth research on your herbs.

The Bottom Line

Cooking your meals using fresh, straight-out-of-the-garden herbs is a whole new level of culinary skills. This is a great way to remain healthy while also releasing the flavor of your dishes in full. Now, you have a step-by-step guide on how to grow your own mini herb garden right in a dorm room. So don’t wait, and start using these tips right now!