16 Herbs That Don’t Need Drainage Holes | Update 2024

Some herbs such as Mint, Basil, Chives and Common comfrey can thrive well in pots without holes if you know how to plant and water them.  If you want to know more, keep reading to find 16 herbs that don’t need drainage holes that are ideal for your kitchen herb hanging and other types of indoor gardens. I also will tell you verified tips for planting and caring for them.

There are various ways to create an indoor herb garden including planting herbs in pots, glass jars, mason jars, window boxes, hanging pots and any other kind of containers. But one of the important concerns of indoor gardeners is drainage.

I am a horticultural consultant and want to help you with this issue. One day, a friend asked me “I have a metal tub to plant herbs in and no drainage holes, do herbs need drainage holes?”. It is one of the most frequent questions that people ask me. They often want to know:

• How do you plant herbs in pots, glass jars, mason jars or window boxes without holes?
• Which herbs need good drainage?
• Which herbs don’t need drainage holes?

If the above questions are your problem too, keep reading to find a practical answer for them.

Here: I will first discuss whether herbs need drainage or not. After that, I will tell you about herbs that need drainage holes. And then, I will provide you with 16 herbs that can thrive in the planters without drainage holes. Finally, I will show you how to plant herbs in pots and any container without holes

So, after reading this article you can:

• Create your indoor herb garden in every container without any worry about drainage.
• You can correctly select your favourite herbs based on your planter.

If you are ready, let’s dive into it.

➡ Here you can hear the audio version of this article.

Do Herbs Need Drainage Holes? 

before diving into the world of herbs that don’t need drainage holes, I want to discuss the importance of drainage. Drainage for most herb plants, like other plants, is critical. In previous articles, we discussed the importance of drainage and told you that almost all plants hate their roots sitting in water.

The roots similar to the foliage need oxygen to breathe and have to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide within holes of soil. hence air flow will improve the extension of roots.

During the overwatering, the soil’s holes will fill with water and if the soggy conditions continue for days, the roots will rot. Hence it is critical to remove the extra water from the soil by drainage. I will tell you how to prevent root rot in pots without drainage holes in my next post.

Another reason for the importance of drainage is salts that accumulate in the soil during watering and fertilization. Drainage takes away the salt from roots and prevents poisoning of roots and plants.

Now you have found out the importance of drainage, let to answer one of the common questions, do herb planters need drainage holes?

Holes in the bottom of herb planters are one of the most important ways to create good herb pot drainage but do herb planters have to have drainage in the bottom? Can you plant herbs in pots without holes?

Yes, you can plant herbs in pots without holes because:

• Some herbs like to thrive in wet soils and their root systems are adapted for living in soggy soils.
• Holes are only one of the ways to create drainage and you can try other ways for an indoor herb pot with good drainage if keep reading.

In the following, we will first talk about herbs that need drainage.

What Herbs Need Good Grainage? 

In this part, I will list plants that need indoor herb pots with good drainage. They couldn’t tolerate soggy soils hence you have to plant them in pots with holes in the bottom or if you want to plant them in containers such as cachepots, glass jars, etc. you should create a perfect drainage and watering strategy.

So, before planting these herbs in a cachepot, read the following articles: Are pots without drainage holes bad?  How to plant in ceramic pots without drainage holes?  How to have good drainage in pots without holes?  What to put in the bottom of the planter without drainage holes?  The best practice for Watering plants in pots without drainage.

The following herbs need good drainage for healthy growth:

• Sage
• lemon balm
• Rosemary
• thyme
• Greek Oregano
• Cilantro
• Sorrel
• French tarragon
• Lemon verbena
• Sage
• Winter savory

Before starting to plant in containers without holes, ensure that your favourite herb doesn’t belong to the above list.

Before diving into the next part, let me answer some questions that people usually ask about the number and size of holes.

If you want to know “Is 1 hole in a pot enough drainage for herb plants?” and “How many drain holes does a pot need?”, I must tell you depending on the size of your pot, typically one to three holes is enough: For small to medium containers (4” – 12” in diameter): one to two holes. For larger planters (6” and up): three or more holes. If you want to find out “Does drainage hole size matter?” you should know it is important. You have to avoid very small holes due to they will easily be closed with chunks of soil, holes one inch in diameter usually work well.

If you have another question on this issue, feel free to ask me below this page. let’s get going to the next part.

Herbs That Don’t Need Drainage Holes.

For a lot of reasons some people like planting herbs in pots without holes. In previous parts, we answered “Do herb pots need drainage holes?” and you found out that some plants can thrive in wet soils. So, you can plant them in the herb planter with no drainage.

 💡 In the below video, you can watch how to plant in a pot without drainage holes.

In the following, you see a list of herbs that can grow healthy in containers without holes. Almost all of them are edible or have medical benefits. lets start our journey to the world of herbs that don’t need drainage holes.

Mint (Mentha spp.)

Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) 

Crimson beebalm (Monarda didyma)

Garden angelica (Angelica archangelica)

Common comfrey (Symphytum officinale)

 

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)

Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)

Marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis)

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus)

Four-leaf water clover (Marsilea quadrifolia)

Chameleon plant (Houttuynia cordata)

water lily (Nymphaeaceae).

Water chestnuts (Eleocharis spp.).

Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica).

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale).

Now you are familiar with herbs that like wet soils. Can you add new herbs to the above list? Ok! Let’s go to the next part. I will show you the best practice for planting herbs without drainage holes. Keep reading.

How to Plant Herbs in Pots Without Holes 

in the last part you found herbs that don’t need drainage holes, now, let’s find how to plant them. If you want to have your kitchen herb hanging or a window box but are concerned about draining water from the pot’s holes, here, I will discuss growing herbs in containers without drainage.

Most people have a dream about a glass jar herb garden but they are worried about root rot. They ask me “Can herbs be healthy in a glass jar without drainage?” Although you can plant herbs that like wet soils, you should create drainage in other ways too. There are two common ways for herb box drainage:

1- Double pots method (pot within the pot).

It is very easy, to plant the herbs in planters with drainage holes and put them inside a cachepot. If you are concerned about overwatering, the extra water will accumulate in the cache pot and you should discharge it. search about intake water of herbs to avoid it.

2- Drainage holes vs. rocks in an indoor herb garden.

Create good drainage with rocks. Follow the below instructions:

• First, you must add small rocks at ¼ of the height of the pot.
• After that add a thin layer of Activated Charcoal to improve drainage. It also has an antibacterial effect. Because the risk of root rot is high in pots without holes, adding this layer is important.
• Finally, fill the pot with well-draining potting soil.

If you are considering growing herbs in mason jar drainage, the above instruction is a practical way for mason jar herb garden drainage.

Conclusion

In this article, I tried to help you create your indoor herb garden in containers without drainage holes. First, I talked with you about the importance of drainage and herbs that need good drainage for growing. After that, I provided you with a list of 16 herbs that don’t need drainage holes and showed you how to plant herbs in pots without holes.

People usually plant in pots without holes to solve the problem of draining water from the pot’s holes. if you don’t like to do it, here you can find a lot of perfect ideas to put under the pots.

Have you had any experience in planting herbs in pots without holes such as glass jars? Did you win or fail? Do you think the above guidelines can help you? can you add new herbs to our list? It would be our pleasure if you share your knowledge, experiences and ideas with our readers below this page.

In addition, as mentioned above, I’m a house plant gardening adviser and feel free to ask your questions. I will answer them as soon as possible.