Herbs in the porch?

Becles

We have a large porch at the front of our house. It has large glass windows on two sides, a glass front door and a tiled roof. It doesn't have central heating so it's cold in there in the winter, and it has an opening window as it gets too hot in the summer!

I was thinking about buying this plant stand and some zinc bucket pots:
http://www.coopersofstortford.co.uk/src/gbase/coopers-of-stortford-corner-plant-stand-prodst08148i/

and planting various herbs in them that I use when I'm cooking.

Would they be happy growing in the porch, and what varieties do best in pots?

Farway

It depends how hot it gets in summer, if stifling then you really need some tough herbs with silvery / furry leaves, like sage, lavender, rosemary & possibly thyme

The greener ones, such as basil will just wilt in the heat

sirbrainy

Our basil does great in 35C over the summer (abroad) - you just need to keep it well watered.

Sally_A

I start mine off in the porch, much to Himself's dismay, and bring them on to the kitchen windowsill (eg. basil, parsley, coriander), the larger herbs live outside (eg. mint, sage, thyme, rosemary etc).

Zinc pots might be detrimental as it will sizzle the roots if in direct sunshine.

Becles

Thanks. Never thought about zinc getting hot!

It does get warm on sunny summer days as it's south facing. There's plenty of room on the drive though so I could lift things outside if they start to wilt.

Sally_A

I think that's why the silver coloured metal pots/planters etc are reduced so much at the end of the season. Looked good on gardening programmes, but killed the plants.

There don't seem to be quite so many in catalogues anymore :cool:

sirbrainy

You can get the big £19.99 ones for £5 in my Homebase, they've been that price for a month but nobody seems to want them.