Costs
Costs will vary depending on whether you start your plants from seed or purchase them at a local nursery. The types of pots or window boxes or indoor stands you choose to use for containers and plant stands and the types of grow lights you choose. If you went the whole uptown route, you could easily spend $500 to $1,000 just to start 10 to 20 herbs. But this is totally unnecessary.
In general, I have found 4 inch starter herbs run about four to 5 dollars a pot. If you watch for spring or end of season sales, you can save 30 to 40% on the plants. And you can find sales on containers at local nurseries or online.
Let’s get a general idea of the cost to start our ten herb indoor garden.
Item | Basic Item Total | New Items | Total |
10 starter herbs at $4 per 4 inch pot | 40.00 |
| 40.00 |
1 black plastic tray to hold plants | 1.49 |
| 41.49 |
1 24 inch T5 Sunblaster Grow light | 39.99 |
| 81.48 |
1 large bag potting soil | 9.99 |
| 91.47 |
Misc tools | 15.00 |
| 106.47 |
4 terra cotta 6 inch pots | 20.00 |
| 126.47 |
1 terra cotta 12 inch pots |
| 20.00 |
|
1 additional 24 inch grow light |
| 40.00 |
|
1 gallon Bay Laurel Plant |
| 25.00 |
|
Estimated Additional Cost Later |
| 85.00 |
|
Estimated Indoor Herb Garden Incl. Add’l Cost |
|
| 211.47 |
For under $200 dollars, you can have a nice indoor herb garden ($125 - $150). The additional items don’t need to be added until your basic garden is going and you see if you even want those items. To reduce your costs, be innovative on your pots. Use 6 inch pots for some herbs and one or two 8 inch pots for the larger ones with one 10 inch pot to hold one large and a couple of the smaller herbs.