RV Herb Garden; 7 Tips to Grow an Indoor Garden in a Camper

One of the attractions of living in an RV is that you’re free to travel where you’d like. You can spend one weekend in the mountains and the next at the sea shore. It is easy to spend a week surrounded by nature, if you don’t want to park in a suburban campground.

Unfortunately, this does make it more difficult to exercise your green thumb. However, it isn’t impossible to raise an herb garden or have other plants in your RV.

Here 7 Tips to Grow an Indoor RV Herb Garden

Tips 01: Know what grows best in small spaces

You can save yourself a lot of frustration by choosing plants that grow well in the small to mid-sized planters that fit in an RV window or storage tray. These include basil, oregano, parsley, chives, mint, bean sprouts, marjoram, thyme, and rosemary.

A side benefit of these plants is that a small amount provides a burst of flavor, while most of them grow quickly. Then you’ll have a steady supply of the herb from one or two planters.

Tips 02: Plan for your plants in your daily routine.

Houseplants are typically those evolved to live in the forest shade. That’s the only way they survive in the relatively low light of the indoors. Herbs generally need a fair amount of light.

Most herb species need at least six hours of direct sunlight. This means you should set them in the sun whenever you’ve stopped. This will help them blossom or grow abundant leaves instead of growing tall, lanky and with low yields of the leaves that you want to harvest.

If you’re parked in a small space, put them on the roof to get sun. Just don’t forget them there when you pull out.

Tips 03: Look for hanging planters and plants that complement them.

A lot of people maintain a small herb garden to enjoy fresh herbs whenever they want them. Don’t forget the fact that there are other plants you might want to raise, too.

Look for hanging planters you can hang in the kitchen window or a side window to get sunlight. You could raise tomatoes or herbs in these hanging planters.

And you eliminate the hassle of having to move a physical planter out into the sun.

Tips 04: Design planters for the lifestyle.

No ceramic pots or breakable containers. Heavy mason jars aren’t recommended unless you’re able to secure them in a solid metal or plastic tray. This is where plastic or wicker planters are invaluable. They aren’t just durable but won’t weigh a lot. And they won’t hurt someone if they go flying through the cab during a hard turn.

The next step is the design of the planter itself. You want deep pots with drainage holes to let extra water drain away. You may have to cut these holes yourself. You could put the planters in hanging shoe organizers to capture drainage and easily hang them in the window or off the back of the RV.

Ensure that you use good quality potting soil and have some pebbles on the bottom to allow moisture to drain.

Tips 05: Label

If you’re raising an herb garden with several species, label the planters so that you know what is growing in each. This might affect how much water you give it or what fertilizer you might add.

It also prevents you from ruining dinner by harvesting the wrong herb for it.

Tips 06: Skip the fancy equipment.

Skip the fancy equipment that you might use in an indoor herb garden at home. RVs are known for being short on space. This makes a large LED growing light for maximizing herb yield a liability. And that’s aside from the energy it consumes.

If you can’t raise it in pots attached to the bumper or hanging containers in the window, it shouldn’t be in the RV. Just buy it fresh at the next grocery store.

Tips 07: Be realistic

If you live in an RV, you have limited space, power and resources. Be realistic. You can raise an herb garden, a few flowers or have African violets or ivy climbing in the corner. Don’t try to raise a full vegetable garden or think that the plants you’re raising will allow you to be independent food-wise.

Focus on raising herbs that make the freeze dried meal delicious or that you would otherwise be buying at high costs fresh every day or two. And that means don’t bother raising potatoes or beans.

Enjoy your vacation or work harder at your day job so you can afford to enjoy quality local food wherever you are.

Conclusion

It is possible to raise a modest herb garden in an RV. This requires the right combination of plants and gardening tools.

Fortunately, it can be as low maintenance as a window herb garden at home. To keep your knowledge updated, Consider a several check RVside in a day or week.